Hotel Arcata

so the drive down 101 was beautiful, we drove through the heart of the national park and took a hike to what used to be the tallest tree in America, now just a 26 ft in diameter stump.
Fortuna had the same air crescent city had, but we needed to stop after a long day of driving up and down the forest, with all of it's twists and turns. We bolted out of this one asap!!!

Flo: Hi there! So My Uncle Chris picked us up from our San Fran hostel at around 3pm and it took us about 5 hours to get to his house in Fortuna. My Aunty Reene and cousins Ian and Andrew were all at home, I hadn't seen them for about 2/3 years. We also met Harry (the crazy little dog that loved Simon - dont ask me why!) and Kit-Kit (Andrew's cat!). My Uncle brought us Sushi for dinner which was really yummy. In the evening we went out with Ian to meet up with his friend ...

... seemed pretty large to us!

The most fun we had was hiking through Fern Canyon. No Redwoods here, but an amazing canyon of old growth ferns along a creek. We brushed with the fame of Hollywood, since the canyon was used in the Jurassic Park movie, "The Lost World." We hadn't brought hiking boots with us, so we had to make our ...

... Road (one hundred yards from Highway 101) and Elk Prairie along Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. We saw them at both spots.

The sunset caught our eye as we headed down the coast so we stopped off on a beach overlooking the ocean. A ranger then approached us to let us know a Tsunami warning had been issued for the Califonian coast as the aftermath of the Samoan disaster. It was predicted to only be 20 inches though. The sunset was stunning and we ...

... starter motor, Our thanks go to Dolyes for their support in helping us along our way.

After the delayed start we set off down I5 towards Grants Pass passing some great scenery along the way we turned off onto the 199 to pass through some really amazing views passing through the Redwood highway on our way to the coast, a truly spectacular ride. Once in ...

Last week I found out that my Granmother is off Chemotherapy becuase of a heart condition. She is such an amazing woman, i feel like i need to get back to her homeland and travel, the way she told me to, with an accordion and a backpack. I have the accordion, a beautiful red Cellini, 120 bass. I ...

... throw up, but luckily I didn't- but it was a windy road. Windy enough that the coffee in one of our 'cup holders' (a pair of Silas' shoes) tipped over and spilled all over the front of the bus- something that's never happened before.
Our plan was to drive to Gold Bluffs Beach in the Redwoods and spend the whole week there before heading to my dad's house. Silas had stayed at this beach in the spring and from the way he had talked about it I knew he was really looking ...

The scenery remained stunning but was less rugged & more majestic in its bigness of the road hugging huge headlands & sweeping across big gorges with snow capped mountains in the background.







Soon after crossing the border we came into ...

... beer, and oh ya salad. The night concluded with some air hockey and very large glass of red wine to go with the case of beer each of us drank during the day. Sunday The next morning (actually it was like 11:30) we got up and headed to the Eatery for some Fishermen's Mess (Hash Browns, covered with gravy, bacon, and three eggs) or better known as a heart attack or the meal ...

... and in neighbouring Washington State a downpour of epic proportions was in progress - Lees Camp in the Oregon Coast Range saw 14.3 inches of rainfall in one day alone. Across the region hillsides collapsed, rivers flooded and a number of people were swept to their deaths. Squalls rippled continuously across the ever-expanding pool of rainwater that masqueraded as the motel parking lot, ensuring that my occasional forays out into Florence began and ended with a vigorous ...