California Roadtrip

We left Huntington Beach and headed north.  We stayed one night at Kern River County Park, north east of downtown Bakersfield.  It is a beautiful campsite but we were only there one night.

Kern River County Park

A joyful burst of color

We spent one night at Medeiros campground near Santa Nella.  It was muddy and dark when we arrived and there was a loud party at the far end of the campground.  We moved as far from the music as we could.  In the morning we were greeted with this wonderful view.  We packed up and continued on.

Medeiros primitive campground

There was an accident on the southbound side of I-5 that backed up traffic for miles.  We were glad we were going the other way.

Traffic on I-5 near Patterson

We crossed the San Francisco Bay from Richmond to San Quentin.

Richmond San Rafael Bridge

We joined the 101 in San Rafael.  We would stay on 101 into Washington when we turned east near Aberdeen.

US-101 north of San Francisco

In Santa Rosa we spotted statues of Peanuts characters from the freeway.  We investigated and found that this was the home of Charles Schulz and there was a great Peanuts museum as well as many of the statues scattered around town.

Hangin' with Chuck

We stopped so that Rebecca could give back to the community.

Dr. R

We spent a few nights nestled in the trees along the Russian River

On December 5th we were driving through the Redwood forest when we received emergency alerts saying there had been an earthquake (7.0) and that there was a Tsunami Warning in effect for coastal areas.  We pulled off on the Avenue of the Giants at the Immortal Tree to figure out what was happening.

No tsunami developed but there were some landslides and tree debris on the road as a result of the earthquake.

The Immortal Tree

Landslide on Avenue of the Giants

Fallen tree debris on Avenue of the Giants

Back on 101 we continued on through the canyon of redwoods.

A canyon of redwood trees

We stopped in Crescent City to eat and enjoy the view at Battery Point.

Battery Point Lighthouse

The California coast

We stopped to visit with Paul Bunyan and Babe and some other friends.

We walked the trails in the Redwood State and National Parks

We scratched off another National Park

Wait! Did you see that?!?!?

Elk grazing near the Oregon border