Thursday, April 22, 2010

Good Friends Rock! or Rocks and Good Friends...

Yesterday we bid goodbye to Mendocino, traveling north on Rt 1 along the coast. It's a wonderful drive, made better by the fact we were going north, on the inside of the road, rather than south, where the passenger hangs over the abyss quite often.

Then we turned inland, away from the coast, to make the windy, twisty drive to the 101, 20-some miles of mountain driving, with redwoods. Just a few turns away from the oceans, the redwoods came down to the road, and the sunnier spots along the roadside were awash with forget-me-nots. In some places both road shoulders were blue as far as you could see.  It was lovely.

After a while, the constant left & right swerving of the car following the road gets a little bit like a boat in a not-particularly-calm ocean. It kinda puts you into a dozy state, as long as you're not driving. For a while, the road followed a small river that looked like nothing so much as Fern Gully, sprouting ferns right down to the banks, with fallen logs all over.

Once on the 101 (just after passing The World-Famous Drive-Through Tree!!!) we drove through one of the most beautiful landscapes in California. Rolling hills, much of them covered with redwoods. We chose not to drive the Avenue of the Giants this trip, as we've done it before, and it's much slower than the main route.

Later we stopped at Chapman's Rock shop and Museum. This is a rock-hounds paradise. They don't have their own website, but are probably the best rock shop you'll ever see. Gems, beads, ammonites, specimens, you name it. I got a lot of cabochons here.

More later. I was going to post this 2 days ago, but the internet connection at the Best Western in Arcata was less than reliable.

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