From The Redwood Forests...

Before I get going on yesterday, there was something omitted from the day before. After we set up our RV and Greg and Barbara left, we took a ride north on Rt. 101 to Bandon Dunes. For those of you not up on the golf scene, Bandon has become a golf Mecca over the last ten years. They have 3 courses, Bandon Dunes, Bandon Trails, and Pacific Dunes. They are all supposed to be superb. We walked to the rear of the Dunes clubhouse to a restaurant over looking the first tee. It was about 2:00pm and the tee had a constant stream of players teeing off. I don't know their fee schedule, but about $250 is the rate. Most people walk; some with caddies, some carrying their own bag. A few rode carts. The courses are all links style courses being right in the dunes. The wind blew relentlessly. Time for the ol' Long Island trap shot.
Lunch was excellent. Dana had their famous Bandon Cheese Burger and I had a Crab Melt. We wandered over to the pro shop for a look. The Ashworth Tech short sleeve mock turtles were $86. At any rate, everything here looks first rate and world class.
Back to the present. Yesterday we drove south to Brookings, Or., to a Chevy dealership to have some maintainence performed on the truck. Trans fluid, fuel filter, air filter. The brakes have 47,000 on them and the service guy said they still have 80 to 90 per cent of the pads left. They should last about 200,000 miles. Never heard such a thing. Had my second hair cut in 5 months at a salon. Shampoo, massage and trim. Took an hour and a quarter and cost $25. Never heard such a thing.
We then headed south to the main event of the day, retracing our path on the way into the area through parts of Redwood National and State Parks. The parks have a northern and southern section and we just did the north area for now. We stopped and took a walk through the Simpson-Reed Grove. It's difficult to find words to describe these things. They grow in an environment of 100" of rain per year plus many days of dense fog off the ocean which provides close to half of the tree's water needs. On sunny days, they transpire about 500 gallons of water. Some trees are over 300' tall and between 500 and 1,000 years old. They have shallow root systems (10-12 feet deep), but their roots intertwine with nearby trees to strenthen one another. The areas in the park are preserved old growth with ferns covering much of the ground between trees. It is really a site to see.
After leaving that area, we continued west on Rt. 199 to a Ranger station. We watched an educational film about the area and then stopped and talked to a Ranger. He suggested that we continue 2 miles east to the Stout Grove and then take Howland Hill Road SW back to Crescent City. The walk through the grove was great, but the drive on this little dirt road through an Redwood forest was unbelievable. It's like Alice in Wonderland. The narrow road twists and turns right next to trees that are up to 20' in diameter. No direct sunlight gets to the ground. We idled along at about 10 mph and just gawked at the scene. Joel's Dad, Jerre, once told me that the giant trees of California were the most awe inspiring things he had scene. He was right on the money.