Gualala and Point Arena

Back again,
Just rolled in to the Whale Watch Inn in Gualala, CA (you need a couple of cocktails to pronounce it correctly). We’re in the room called Cliffside and since it’s  dark and I can hear the waves crashing below, I’ll take their word for it. See  for yourself at<< http://www.whalewatchinn.com/>>.

The day began at the breakfast table at the Victorian Inn in Ferndale where we  gobbled down a yogurt parfait, poached eggs and bacon (two breakfasts actually).  It was included with the room! I would definitely recommend staying in this town  when you travel in these parts. Beautiful Victorian buildings throughout and the  beach is only 5 miles away. Looked around this great blacksmithing shop and gallery that features work of metal workers from around the world. Check it out at <<http://www.ferndaleblacksmith.com/blacksmithing.html>>.

Then we took off for the Avenue of the Giants in redwood country. Va took some  pics and we communed amid giant trees. Really quite a lot of fun seeing young  kids climb up on giant stumps and run along some of the downed trees reveling in nature. The best though was a hokey tourist gimmick called the “Drive Thru  Tree” which is a privately run enterprise that takes $6 and then let’s you drive  through a redwood that has an opening about 7′ X 7 ‘. When the German visitor  in the car ahead of us almost got his car stuck in the tree, I backed up and took  the” bypass.” Hey, that carved-out tree wasn’t all they had to offer, you could  drive up on a redwood ramp and then back down. Not sure exactly what the point  of that was, but maybe there was the risk of your car falling off a redwood just  after you scratched it all up driving through one. There were a couple of playhouses carved out of redwoods nearby to keep the kids entertained while you went to try  to get your money back.

After the redwoods, which are along US 101, we made our way back to the coast  and US 1 passing through Fort Bragg, Mendocino, Elk, Point Arena and Anchor Bay.  And here we are hanging over a cliff in one of our favorite towns.

Tomorrow we inch our way closer to SF and stay with a friend in Sebastopol. On  Thursday morning we pick up Tina and Torrin at SFO and begin another kind of fun.  Ethan Klein’s wedding is on Saturday.

I’m sure you’ve had enough so signing off.