The Winding Road

This morning we took a short stop on Woodley Island to see the Fishermans Memorial Statue before continuing our journey south. What should have been a fairly mundane task, took a turn when we happened to see the living reincarnation of the statue walking around with a tiny dog and a giant bag of chew tobacco in the parking lot... This obviously led to 15 minutes of trying to figure out if last night was a full moon or new moon or something else that could have caused this phenomenon.

After finally deciding that he might have just been homeless, we were full of Starbucks and on our way to the Avenue of the Giants. Mouths gaping, we drove slowly down the Avenue with the windows down. At one point, we pulled off at a trailhead just to hear the silence and smell the fresh forest air. During one of our crossings of the Eel River, Danielle saw a beaver making its way upstream! Nature at its finest.

We made the decision to split off from the 101 to the 1, which was honestly a mixed bag. The highway was nearly empty and the sights were stunning, from the dense, fog-laden forests to the plunging cliffs. We saw scores of turkey vultures and a few ospreys along the way, too. As much as we were happy to take Robert Frost's advice on our road choice, we are DELIGHTED to have it checked from our bucket list. Switchbacks, steep inclines, seemingly vertical declines, speeding up, slowing down, road and shoulder repairs... it was a lot.

The only real stop we made along the 1 was in Fort Bragg at Pomo Bluffs Park. A bit more accessible than most, this gave us a chance to get up close and personal with the craggy cliffs we have become accustomed to during this trip. We were able to stretch our legs and hear the familiar barks of California Sea Lions before continuing the long, Subaru commercial of a trek. Which leads us to the true star of this trip: our darling, flannel-loving, wool-collecting, AWD-having, safety-hound of a car... Sue (pictured).

Ready for a steaming bread bowl of chowder and some Russian River Valley wine, we made our way into our third county of the day, Sonoma, where we're staying for the night in Bodega Bay. Worn from the drive, we whipped through the last couple of hours and ended our day in Adirondack chairs overlooking the bay. Tonight we'll get some serious rest.Read more