Redwood Forests GIve Way to the City by the Bay

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters…you know the rest and the beauty of the song can’t compare to the beauty of our nation.

Giant is not enough of a word. Gargantuan is more like it coupled with towering and majestic.  Add skyscrapers and finish off with a soaring adjective. Sunlight blinks through the thickness of the groves, dappling the roadway and landscape. Redwood sequoia is the tallest species in the sequoia family.

We traveled the Redwood Highway (101 S) and happened upon our first sighting on Walker Road. An immediate pullover was available which we grabbed.

Hopping out of the truck with cameras at the ready, we could not get enough of these trees’ spectacular beauty.  Along the Avenue of the Giants to Founder’s Grove and then the Drive Thru Tree, we traveled the length of California’s Redwood Forest.

We then drove on south for many miles thru Eureka, CA, a Victorian town with the iconic Carson Mansion.  We tried to speed on, but 65 MPH is max along these highways. We arrived at Windsor, CA for an overnight stay before adventuring in SF, the City by the Bay.

We have 5 or 6 iconic landmarks on our check sheet:  #1 – Drive Across the Golden Gate Bridge.  #2  See Pacific Ocean on Hwy 1 with surfers.  #3 Drive down Lombard Street. #4  Experience Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Warf.  #5  Ride the Cable Cars.

We did all those things AND saw Nob Hill, Golden Gate Park, Alcatraz (several escapees were wandering around), Coit Tower, Sir Frances Drake Hotel, and we drove across the SF Bay Bridge, eastbound, on the lower deck.

The breeze off the bay kept temps in the mid to high 60’s and as we were leaving, the fog was rolling in, providing a chill to the air.

Knocking on wood at numerous times, and after negotiating Houston Traffic with 8 lanes and ramps with speeding vehicles exiting and entering, toll roads everywhere, SF was not nearly what either of us were expecting, especially when compared to Houston’s congestion. SF highways  has five lanes max and relatively even speed coming into town. Exiting town, driving over to Highway 99 was not quite so easy with much stop and go traffic and one car throwing out a fireball onto the highway.

Motorcycles dart in and out of interstate traffic and rev their engines if you don’t yield to them fast enough. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

SF is a pretty city, but my heart rides along with me.  I didn’t leave it in SF.