Redwood forest

The view looking down the river

Our Road Trip Plan A was to go anti-clockwise, working our way north inland, going around Seattle and the Olympic National Forest and then coming back to California via the coast road. Well, we made it as far as Shasta on the inland road, but it was 42^oC (110^oF), so we moved on to Plan B: going clockwise north up the coast and praying for cooler weather inland on our return south.

Some of the trees are enormous. This one is thought to be 325′ tall.

The first part of Plan B is working well. The weather is a tolerable 22^oC (72^oF) most of the time.

We spent yesterday in the redwood forest of Jedediah Smith state park, at the very northwestern end of California. Smith River bisects the park and it’s absolutely beautiful. After a walk through huge redwoods, hugging humungous trees, the children swam in the river and jumped off a very small cliff.

Superman

Gabriella walked the length of this fallen tree. The tree’s so huge and she’s so far away from the camera that you have to squint to see her at the other end.

The children jumped off this mini cliff several times