When The Big Tasty and I decided to go see the Redwood Forest, I thought we would just go find the park, like you would the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. As it turns out, visiting the Redwoods is a little more complicated. It is a conglomeration of several state and federal areas and you really need to sit down and make some decisions about what to visit before you set out. We found a super helpful park ranger who not only suggested some great hiking trails, but recommended our route down South towards Napa. We visited several areas, some in the forest and some on the coast in the Crescent City, CA area.
The most spectacular spot we saw in Redwoods Country was the Stout Memorial Grove (see photo above and previous post) in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. I realized very quickly that we had to start putting people in the photos in the Redwood Forest in order to get perspective on how large the trees were.
Some Guy I Don't Know Standing in a Tree
The Big Tree at Prarie Creek Redwood State Park
The California Coast at Crescent City.
The other interesting thing about our stop in Redwoods Country was our accommodations. I was all set to book a room in some nondescript chain motel when I came upon a listing for the Curly Redwood Lodge. This place advertises itself as a complete throwback to the 1950s, and was it ever. It is a totally no-frills roadside motel with mattresses that also haven't changed since the 1950s -- they don't even give you tiny bottles of shampoo in the bathroom. That being said, I jumped at the opportunity to stay there because it seemed like genuine Americana -- and it was dirt cheap.
What both the Big Tasty and I both found to be slightly disturbing was the motel's claim to fame: it was constructed (for the most part) in the early 1950s with lumber from a single redwood tree. I guess in a more environmentally-sensitive age we're more atuned to the fact that it's a shame that a gorgeous redwood tree had to die for a crappy motel. But like that great uncle of yours who blurts out racist things once in a while, I guess you have to judge things in the context of their respective times. (Plus, at those prices you have to expect to be a little offended for some reason.)
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