Vintage View Vednesday Jedediah Smith Redwoods State and National Park 2005

At the bottom of the post, I have links to previous installments about our accidental vacation.

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State and National Park 2005
We drove the truck and trailer down the Oregon coast and into California with no specific goal in mind. We had spent a couple of days in northern California 13 years before, but we did not see much and did not know what there was to see. We had preached a night or two in Arcata and had driven up the coast to Eureka, but that is about all. We were ready to explore a little.

California Vacation

The first thing was finding a place to park. This was a couple years before smartphones so I imagine we found the campground in our huge Good Sam RV Park Directory that we relied on for many years. It was about 10 miles off 101 on 199. It was a beautiful drive to the campground. 

As we were checking in I ask the person at the counter about scenic drives in the area. She said most people camp here to enjoy the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State and National Park. We were directed to a six mile gravel road that leads through an old growth Redwood forest. We were blown away by the beauty. To take it all in, Kelly Jo and Odie rode in the back of the truck and we took a few hours to make our way through it.

We have seen Redwoods all over the state of California before 2005 and since then. We have never seen anything to compare to that unbelievable drive.

It is amazing how this little drive went way down deep in our hearts and found a home. Kelly Jo and I spent a couple of days there again in 2010 during a drive from Montana to California. The magic still holds.

I know that this post is about our accidental vacation in 2005 and the following pictures are from 2010, but they are begging to be posted.

But first, we needed some KFC for a picnic under the majestic trees. It was finger licking good!

We headed for the trail that leads down to the Stout Memorial Grove.

We stocked up on water before we picked up the chicken. If a fat boy is going to hike he needs huge amounts of water! No sense in getting dehydrated out in the redwood wilderness...

Full of chicken and stocked up on H2O we hit the trail!

This particular grove was donated as a memorial in 1929 by the widow of Frank D. Stout who made several fortunes in the timber industry.

Here is Kelly Jo standing by the roots of a tree that fell many years ago.

This place is awesome! We can't get enough of all these massive trees! We have stumbled onto a lot of amazing people and amazing beauty in our travels, but this blind find probably tops them all.

The next day the end dropped off of our accidental vacation and we were left to deal with it. I will tell you all about it for sure! 

Thank you for joining us on our trip.

Davy

Accidental Vacation 2005 I Yellowstone National Park

Accidental Vacation 2005 II Grand Teton National Park

Accidental Vacation 2005 III More Grand Tetons and Yellowstone

Accidental Vacation 2005 IV Glacier National Park and The Metzger's

Accidental Vacation 2005 V Washington State

Accidental Vacation 2005 VI Oregon Coast

Accidental Vacation 2005 VII Southern Oregon Coast