Thursday, October 18, 2012

Road Trip Part 12: GIANTS


There was no doubt we had crossed the line.  
We‘d gone all the way down the Oregon Coast 
and had wandered into California.

We were planning on visiting Redwood National Park, but when we saw the California price of gasoline was fifty cents a gallon more and the big redwood trees had been turned into a tacky, expensive roadside attraction for crowds of tourists; we made a quick turn-around in the parking lot of Trees of Mystery theme park.  Of course we had to take a photo or two of life-sized Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.  By the way I always thought Babe was a girl.  Nope.  I had to walk all over the place to get a decent photo angle on him.  The adolescent boys in the lower left were going for the opposite view and loving it.
Another sure sign we were in California.

So instead of Redwood National Park we went through Jedediah Smith State Park, still on the California side of the border, but not nearly as crowded.  The redwood groves there are considered, “the most scenic in existence.”

According to redwoodhikes.com--“The park isn't known for the height of its trees, but it does have many of the world's largest redwoods by volume, and on the best trails trees of truly stupendous size are set among smaller redwoods.”

BIG Trees.

REALLY big trees.

Yet their branches carry the most delicate boughs of lacy needles.

We were running way short on vacation time 
so we returned to Oregon and the road that leads home.
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11 comments:

  1. Buttons ThoughtsOctober 18, 2012 at 11:04 AM

    Oh I am in love those big massive red woods make my heart all a flutter. B

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  2. Brian KingOctober 18, 2012 at 11:08 AM

    Holy cow! Those are huge! What magnificent trees! That's something I'd like to see one day.

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  3. Joanne NoragonOctober 18, 2012 at 11:42 AM

    It's been more than thirty years since I drove down hightway 101 saw redwoods. I don't remember Paul and Babe. If they were there then, there were far less impressive.

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  4. SarahOctober 18, 2012 at 11:58 AM

    Those trees are amazing. I would love to see them. They are so awe inspiring. I am always very impressed by trees, the older and bigger the better!

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  5. AnonymousOctober 18, 2012 at 12:45 PM

    Fabulous trees! When we encountered a very large concrete ram on holiday, Malcolm said "make sure you get his b***s in the photo"!!

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  6. AnonymousOctober 18, 2012 at 2:37 PM

    The size of those trees boggles the mind.

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  7. ValOctober 18, 2012 at 5:18 PM

    Ooh! I feel faint. Nature's majesty takes my breath away. And I'm not talking about Babe.

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  8. AnairamOctober 19, 2012 at 12:44 AM

    Those red wood trees are pretty amazing! How old are they to get so huge? Anyway, I don't like queues either - if I can, I turn around. No point in going where the masses go, how can you properly commune with nature when there are thousands of people clambering over you?

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  9. PearlOctober 19, 2012 at 8:06 AM

    I have always wanted to see one of those trees, in person. Tried to work it into a trip west a couple years ago but just couldn't cover the requisite distance.

    Still want to see one of those trees in person.

    Pearl

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  10. troutbirderOctober 21, 2012 at 4:06 PM

    Wow! Those are really big tree. And here I though Paul B was a Minnesota boy...:)

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  11. Terry and LindaOctober 21, 2012 at 4:57 PM

    Someday..................they are on my bucket list!


    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
    http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete

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