Big Trees and Big City

I apologize for the time with no posts on our little blog. We've been out of our normal routine while in California, with lots of driving and then lots of visiting taking up the last few days, and not many photographs taken.

On Sunday morning, we left Eureka and drove south on Route 101, which follows the coastline for a little while and then heads inland, towards the redwood forests. We wanted to visit the giant redwoods in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and the fairy-tale feeling of those trees is complemented by the name of the road that bisects the park: "The Avenue of the Giants." We stopped quite a few times to walk into the woods and stand next to one spectacular tree after another, looking upwards in awe. The groves are so quiet and the trees so huge that somehow it feels like another time; I felt that a dinosaur might peek around from behind a gigantic trunk at any time. Molly walked inside one hollowed-out trunk and just stood there, looking upwards like a person in a great cathedral. Many things growing around the redwoods also seem larger than normal. We walked through extra-large ferns, and Sandeep found a BIG leaf from some other, unseen tree. We, on the other hand, felt very, very small. Tiny, tiny dinosaur snacks...

We followed Route 101 all the way to San Francisco, stopping only to eat lunch overlooking Lake Mendocino. We reached San Francisco in the late afternoon, and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge into the city. Our GPS continued to punish us, sending the Gumby van straight up the steepest streets to our friend Ash's apartment building. My goodness, San Francisco has steep streets! I always forget just how steep they are until I am actually on them, and looking down over the edge of the street the car is about to descend is like looking over the edge of a black-diamond ski slope. Wheeeeeeeee! The Gumby van was undaunted, however, and we arrived safely. We all took a lovely, long walk, down to the bay. Molly played on a little San Francisco beach, and tried to greet all the San Francisco dogs. "Hello! Hello! My name is Molly! I'm from New Hampshire!" The other dogs mostly passed by without even a sniff. City dogs...

We ate dinner at the wonderful Rose's Cafe, at an outdoor table with Molly. We knew she would be welcome, as each of the tables along the sidewalk was occupied by a dog and its people. The waitress brought Molly a homemade dog biscuit: now, that's service! Our dinner was delicious as well.

Thanks for a lovely visit, Ash, and beautiful, dog-friendly San Francisco.