Day 12 (7/24)- Finally enjoying the land of the giants

Today started with the usual: A run in fairly hilly terrain. We were on a back road of 101 and it was actually a solid run for both of us. Lots of good views of the Pacific. Next up was a hike among the Redwoods. It's amazing, as crowded as this area was, Kate found a 3 mile hike through old growth forest and we saw one other party the entirety of the hike. Seal might still win out, but this was absolutely gorgeous and I think Kate's favorite hike of the trip thus far. Very tranquil in the woods. Awesome to spend time meandering through these skyscraper trees.

So...taking timer shots is harder than it looks...

We briefly tried one more short hike on our way out of the park (only a mile), but we got up there and there was a line for the parking lot. Yup, it pays to be fit.

Next stop was Eureka for a little coffee and planning. We ended up finding a cool place downtown called Old Town Coffee and Chocolates. Both the coffee and the chocolate were worth a stop. After booking a place for the night and the next night, we did lunch out on the ocean (though a little trouble finding a good park!) and finally made good on my kite flying goal. The beach wasn't nearly as beautiful as the Sand Dunes in Oregon, but hey, the ocean is the ocean.

The San Francisco plan had morphed into getting close tonight and waking up early in the morning to catch a ferry into the city, so for better or worse, we left the land of the Redwoods a little early and drove to Santa Rosa, CA to finish up the day.


Vitals:
Miles Driven: ~275
Birds: N/A
Plates: N/A