After we left the Sea Lion Caves we headed South again. Our destination was the Avenue of the Giants, in California. It was 11:00 am when we started out and I knew that we were supposed to hit Eureka by 4:00 pm. It was touch and go if we would be there before dark. Austin really wanted to go swimming in the ocean and I asked the kids if they wanted the ocean or the trees. The general consensus was the trees so off we went. The view of the ocean was stupendous, absolutely breathtaking. The winter storms were just beating down on the shores and it was a sight to see! I personally, think the winter makes for more beautiful ocean views than the summer.
Oregon Coastline In Winter
Today was a good day. The first two days in the car I had the kids sleeping and resting as much as possible. No tv. Today there were no fevers and only some coughing. Cooper was a happy camper in the back seat. Each day I gave the kids their goodie bag of treats to eat all day and he had his sea lion that he had bought at the caves.
Happy Camper Cooper
Because everyone was healthy again I brought back the technology! Tvs for the kids! This made the miles fly by.
Dane Watching "Charlie Chaplin".
A Draw Bridge of Sorts
As we drove along we saw so many different bridges. This is one that we drove over and then right after it turned!
Fortunately for Austin, as we drove around a bend I suddenly saw a large turnout with a wonderful beach - right there! Most of the beaches were way down cliffs. I quickly turned in and parked and told the kids they could run for a couple minutes. All of them, except for Cassidy, jumped out and raced to the beach. Austin found himself some mussel shells, and the boys all had fun climbing the cliffs.
Enjoying the View
Big Brother and Cooper
Once we had left the beach we continued South. When I looked at the map it seemed too far to drive in one night! We read signs about Elk and then a few miles on we fell across a campground where there were all these elk roaming free! We did a turn around and went back to check it out.
Friendly Elk
State Line
Further on down the road we saw Klamath, California and Paul Bunyan and Babe his blue ox. Unfortunately it was an absolute down pour and the boys were getting wetter each time they got out of the car to take pictures *smile*. It was getting darker and there seemed to be less hope of seeing the Drive Thru Tree, let alone driving through it!
Rain, Rain, and More Rain
If you look carefully, you can see the boys standing on Paul Bunyan's foot!
You can see the boys are getting poured on, here in this picture!
We arrived in Eureka, California, about 5:00 pm. It turned out the drive was a lot longer than expected, because the roads were so windy! We were going 30 miles an hour in many places. At times we were driving through the Redwood Forest and the monster trees would be lining the roads on each side. It was truly a sight to see. Magnificent!! I would like to come back one day and spend more time. Our fly through visit just didn't do it justice!
We drove into the Old Town of Eureka and looked for the Carson Mansion. This mansion was built in the 1800's by a Lumber Man. He had the building built to keep people employed for a two year period while there was much unemployment!! This mansion is now the Ingomar Club for Private Members.
Carson Mansion
There were a bunch of other very old buildings that were built in that era, also. Beautiful ones. We didn't have much time to browse through town as we really wanted to get to the Drive Thru Tree down the way. Here are a few pictures of old homes. They are now being used as office buildings.
An Architect's Office 
We left Eureka and headed down the road towards the Avenue of the Giants. It was now getting dark and the chance of getting to the Drive Thru Tree before dark was pretty unlikely. The roads were slow and windy and very rainy, so we didn't get to go very quickly at all. Finally we saw the sign for the Avenue of the Giants.
You can see how dark the night was by now!! Actually this picture makes it a bit darker than it was really. This was after we had gone through. We found the brochure for the place and discovered it would be 32 miles to the other end. The boys decided they wanted to go through, and try to find the tree. Off we went.
One of the Smaller Trees!
As we drove through and decided to take a picture by this big tree we saw another car stop and do the same thing. I wondered who else would be so insane to try to tour the Avenue in the dark?
The Top Half of the Tree
As we drove through the woods looking for the Drive Thru Tree we came across a number of small 'villages'. The population in these areas were between 50 and 450 people. Finally we came to the town of Myers Flat and I remembered that this was where the Drive Thru Tree was. As I slowed down to a sign for it I saw the same car that had been around the trees we had been taking pictures of. They pulled away from the sign, because the tree appeared closed - actually it wasn't closed, there just weren't people there and there were no lights and it was pitch black. So I guess they gave up.
We pulled in past them and decided to see what we could see with our headlights. We found the entrance and drove in and right before us was the tree. It was in the bottom of a very tiny valley. It was nearly impossible to go down the valley and into the tree. The gap in the tree was about 7'x7'.
By now I noticed that we had headlights behind us. I got out and went back to our partners in insanity. It turned out they were a young couple from New York on their way to San Francisco to visit friends. They too, were not willing to miss out on these trees! They would follow me in, *if* I could get through.
I jumped back in my van and pulled up to the tree. I inched forward and Dane and I looked out our windows. We had about 6" to spare on each side - we continued in. We got about half way in - our rear end was up a little hill and if we were to continue our front end would now go up a hill. This was going to be tight! I pulled in as far as I could go and Dane said he had an inch to spare. We pulled in our side mirrors and held our breath and inched forward. Now we could see that we could not make it. Maybe we could... but I wasn't willing to get stuck out here. Can you imagine when the people woke up in the morning and they found a family stuck in their tree! How embarrassing! *laugh* Both cars backed up and took pictures of each other in the tree and then we all continued on our way to San Francisco.
Dane in the Drive Thru Tree
After we left the Drive Thru Tree it was about 7:30 pm. We drove for another hour in the rain and windy roads. I have to tell you the Redwood Forest is the most magical place! Sounds corny, but if you saw the size of the trees, and the greenery, ferns, trees, everything! It reminds me of the movie "Tuck Everlasting". One day we will come back. But in the meantime, the drive through the woods was interesting. The roads were very narrow and so dark and the trees crept right up to your window. I didn't even let myself entertain the thought of breaking down and being all alone out there, miles from anyone!
About 8:30 I told Dane that I was not sure I would be able to drive much farther. I pulled into a parking lot and walked around a little bit and then got back in. We knew that we had a tour planned for the following morning at 10:30 and we had to be in San Francisco for this. We had to get to Sonoma, Ca, at least (an hour from SF) to be on time for the tour. That meant we still had another two hours of driving to do!! We prayed for my tiredness to go away and for me to be sharp and alert.
Our prayers were answered because when we looked at the map we had about 6" to go to SF and we laughed and said there would be no way we would get there that night. We would have to pull over and then begin driving in the early, early am. Well, as time went by, suddenly the inches got smaller and smaller and the miles flew by and soon it was 3 hours and I was as sharp and awake as if it were the beginning of the day!
We saw signs for San Francisco and at this time the little ones woke up and got excited. I have to mention - they are the most awesome travellers!! Cooper has not complained once and he has now driven a 12 hour day, an 8 hour day and a 15 hour day!! The children are happy in their seats and have truly been as good as gold!!
Driving Over the Golden Gate Bridge
We crossed the bridge and then just 'drove' to our hotel. I had no idea where it was. I just knew the name of the street. As I got off the bridge I took a right and then saw a cab driver, so I pulled over and asked him where it was. I just had to continue straight and then hang a right and I would be there. As simple as that! We arrived at our hotel by 12:15 am. By the time I got the hyper kids to bed it was 1:45am. It was a good, but long day!
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