Getting to Crescent City, our final stop in California, was not easy. The last leg of the trip involved going down Route 199, the "Redwood Highway". The road was narrow with sharp curves, some posted at 20 mph, and lots of huge redwood trees were very near the road! Needless to say, maneuvering the RV in that situation was a challenge. I was driving at first, but Art decided to take over. I'm glad he did! Crescent City is on the northern Pacific coast, almost to Oregon. Although on the ocean, it is not a place to play on the beach. The average summer high temp is in the low 6o's with the wind as a constant element!
When we got to our campground, we immediately met some great new friends, Allen and Sharon Prewett. Actually, Allen ran out of his RV as soon as we arrived to meet us, which we thought was very neighborly, but later, we found out he was afraid we were going to hit his truck with our RV! We ended up talking and found out the Prewett's plans were similar to ours, so we teamed up for the next 4 days and did some area sightseeing. We really had a great time! Allen and Sharon are from Georgia, but recently built a home in Florida. It will be nice to see them in Florida, after our travels!
The Coast Redwood trees, cousins to the Sequoias, were spectacular! Although not as wide as the Sequoias, they are taller. One of the tallest trees was measured at over 375 ft, until it lost it's top in a storm. On the first sightseeing day, we visited the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and hiked to the Stout Grove of Redwoods. To see the grove was well worth the hike! It was a beautiful, peaceful area, with old-growth Redwoods everywhere! Another day we drove to the Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. Not only did we see lots of Redwoods, many of which were lining the roads, we were also able to see a small heard of elk!! They were in a meadow very close to the road, so we were able to get a good look and lots of great pictures. There were several baby elk and some males who were born last year and sporting small antlers!
The four of us had lots of fun visiting the Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City. The lighthouse is actually on a rock island and can only be reached by foot at low tide. It is manned by volunteers and there is someone there 24 hours each day. We went on a tour which included the history of the lighthouse, seeing the living quarters of the lighthouse keepers, and learning about their lives. Seemed like it was hard, dangerous, and lonely work!
Ocean World was an aquarium we toured near our campground. Although small, it was nicely set up, and we enjoyed our visit. We were able to pet starfish, amenome, and small sharks. One of the sharks felt quite smooth to the touch, while the other felt like sandpaper! We were even able to see a training session with 3 sea lions, which was quite entertaining. Near Ocean World, was a small sea mammal rescue center we were able tour. The animals are brought in, often malnourished, lethargic, or with wounds. If the sea lions do well, they can be returned to the ocean.
4th of July was fun in Crescent City! There was a small town parade. We never saw so many firetrucks in our lives! There was even a Walmart truck in the parade!!! How about that for advertising! At the campground, they had a BBQ and everyone brought a dish to pass. In the evening, we went down to the beach to see the fireworks. It was a great display, both private and professional fireworks were going off everywhere. The problem was we nearly froze to death!! None of us remember watching fireworks when it was in the 50's and so windy!!!!!!!!!!
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