Our camp site for tonight - notice the wooden pelican

Another carving in the park

Cute bear carved bench

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This video is from the Avenue of the Giants




Oregon Coast

Oregon Coast

Oregon Coast

Is this the USS Minnow??

Bridge over a river that flows into the Pacific

Bay on the coast

We drove out of California today & into Oregon. This southern coast of Oregon is just as pretty & wild looking as the northern California coast. It was a windy, curvy trip & we have ended up in Coos Bay.

Monday, we went to a small town on the coast called Shelter Cove. We were heading there to see a lighthouse. We were also expecting a small, poor town. But, it was a very upscale town, with an airport, that looked like it was for the locals.
Unknown to us, they were having a Memorial Day tribute to veterans. The lady that told us about the tribute was the wife of the man whose statue is in the park where the tribute was held. She told us all about Mario Machi & their life together. She was very interesting & so nice to a couple of strangers.
The lighthouse was moved here from Cape Mendicino, the westernmost point in California, and restored. The lighthouse was in use from 1868, until 1951 when the Coast Guard decommissioned it.
On the north of Shelter Cove is Seal Beach, where we found more sea lions & harbor seals with their pups.
On our way up the coast, we stopped in Loleta to see a cheese factory. It was small, but we saw two vats - one with whey & curds & the other with just the curd, later to be pressed & aged into cheese.

Memorial Day Veteran's Tribute
About Cape Mendicino Lighthouse



Cape Mendicino Lighthouse

Shelter Cove

Seals at Seal Beach

Seals at Seal Beach

2,000 pounds of curd for cheeese


Curds with whey on top - to be drained off

We spent our last day with Steve & Mary Beth on Thursday. John had uploaded some geocache sights, & we did fine one. It was out front of The Sea Ranch Lodge on the cliff.
We spent the rest of the afternoon playing Rumicube. That Steve won 3 games.
We had a delicious steak & baked potato dinner. Then played some more Rumicube. It was a great 4 days. We have lots of fun, and really enjoy Steve & Mary Beth. Thanks for such a great time, you two!!

We then headed north. John wanted to see the Redwoods again. We spent Saturday traveling the Avenue of the Giants. These trees are sooo huge. The tour is 32 miles long, with nothing but giant redwoods along the way.
The Eternal Tree House was in the city of Redcrest, where we also ate lunch. Also visited a couple shops that had all sorts of things made of redwood.

The Eternal Tree House

Doorway into the Eternal Tree House

Outside of Eternal Tree House Looking up - inside the Eternal Tree HouseInside the Eternal Tree HouseInside the Eternal Tree House

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Redwood that fell

Avenue of the Giants

The Eternal Tree House

Some neat flower

More flowers

Searching for a geocache

John, Steve & MaryBeth checking out the geocache

Looking north from where we found the geocache

Traveling north

California poppy

The Sea Ranch Lodge - we found the geocache out in front

Divers going to the ocean to search for abalone

A beach along route 1 as we head north

More ocean & beach

Touring Sea Ranch

Steve & Mary Beth were in Sacramento when we arrived at Ocean Cove. They are back at Sea Ranch & we have been enjoying our time with them.
They took us on a hiking trail up behind Sea Ranch that was all about the San Andreas fault.
We had a guide book filled with facinating facts about the the ridges created from earthquakes & about the logging of the redwoods back in the 1890's.
We could see the ridges that were formed by earthquakes & the guide said that most of them were formed from the 1906 San Francisco quake.
There were lots of huge stumps of redwoods left from the logging - it's amazing they've lasted this long - over 100 years!
Mary Beth has fed us every night & will again tonight. What a great cousin! last night after dinner, we took the trail down to the cliffs & that's where we saw the seals. The pups had just been born a few weeks ago.
There is plenty of wildlife around - deer, wild turkeys, pelicans.
Mary Beth said the pelicans are heading north. We have had dozens of them fly by every day in formation.

2 seals with a pup

The front of Steve & Mary Beth's

Looking south from the path down by the ocean

Seals down below Steve & Mary Beth's

More Seals

More seals

Inside view of Steve's stained glassDeer in Steve & Mary Beth's front area


Deer in front of another house in Sea RanchHigh above Sea RanchOcean from above Sea Ranch

Wild turkey
Springboard cuts from the old days of logging back in the 1890's. Also this looks like the original Chia Pet

John & Ann inside a big redwood

Steve - up closeRedwood sorrel

Redwoods

Steve - checking out the sag pond
Redwood sorrel
Gualala River

Sea Ranch Chapel

Sea Ranch chapelThe doors to the chapel

Inside the chapel



Water fountain outside the chapel


Another view of the chapel

The front of Steve & Mary Beth's home - notice the stained glass above the door, and Buckeye on the porch.



This is a 3.7 million dollar house in Sea Ranch