(Sunday) Giants, dragons and English people

After dragging our backsides out of bed and into the shower we were ready to leave. Dan had found a little place for us to go for brunch (it was now gone 10.30am so it was deffo brunch!) so we headed there. Fabulous place called Cafe Waterfront. Just about managed to get a table and we perused the very good menu.

I spotted on the specials that they did a chicken steak with gravy, potatoes and eggs. I have been eyeing this up previously (I think though it has been actual steak before) and have been very tempted as it seems to be a proper American style brunch option. So Dan persuaded me into it and I ordered biscuits with it too... I felt like a local ;-)

It was huge.. but bloody good and I actually managed to finish it all. Dan had a shrimp omelette which he said was delish. .

With very full tummies we headed off, with not a little trepidation, towards Mendocino via the Avenue of the Giants. We were feeling a little more positive about it given the time it was now after a leisurely brunch but still......

Anyway, there was a complete lack of road signs saying that it was closed so when we got to the actual exit we were thinking we had a bloody good chance here of seeing it - and we were right. WOO HOO.... we joined the Avenue with no issue and there we were, right in the middle of some of the largest Redwoods in the world.  Stunning. Absolutely breathtaking and mindblowing and overwhelming all at the same time.

We picked up all the little guides we could (paper ones not like actual little girl or tour guides!) and cracked on. We parked up in various spots and got right into the forest following the trails here and there wowing and 'shit look at that'ing all the time!

Just missed this scout trooper whizz past

 It is so serene in there with just the gentle cracks of the twigs that you are tromping all over and then the kind of spooky sounds of the trees creaking and moaning as the very tops of them sway in the wind.  I felt privileged in totally mushy, over the top way to be in there amongst these hundreds and hundreds of years old trees.

I did also drive off the Avenue over to the area known as 'The Giant Trees' but to get there we did have to enter the marathon area where I was stopped by an officer of the law! Told him where we wanted to go and he said we were fine and should be good to get back on the Avenue afterwards. YESSS!!

So.. an area called 'The Giant Trees...' How much bigger can they actually bloody get I asked Dan! Well we found out via a very rough, potholed windy roadway!  Along this path I spotted a tree that had what looked like a dragon's head on the side of it.. Seriously it DID! Dan thought I'd gone bonkers...!

When we got to the area where the Avenue's largest actual tree is we found a river with no bridge to cross it aside from a pretty big overturned tree!  Ah well then, that is our way across clearly.. so we clambered up - I got hooked by my camera strap and had a bit of a panicked fight for a minute or two - and we wandered across. I felt safer on that than some bridges to be honest!

  Anyway we found the tree and yeah, they can get seriously bigger. This was 53 foot wide!  It was jaw dropping - just absolutely crazy!

We wandered around there for a while and then headed back. It was pushing on time wise now and we still had around 20miles of the Avenue still to cover plus at least 2hours to get to Mendocino after that..

We re-joined the Avenue and tootled along but sadly, just after the Visitor Centre the road was closed. Not for the marathon either.. looked like some sort of incident and it was completely blocked off..  Ahh well. A real shame but hey, we managed to see quite a lot and we were really happy with that. Especially as the night before we didn't think we were seeing anything!!

Turned back then and headed back on to the Highway and did manage to still find the place with the drive through tree!! I know it's cheesy but I wanted to do it!! By god it was tight! Dan got out to help guide me through as I had to fold in the wing mirrors so couldn't see anything.

I LITERALLY had millimetres either side of me! Got all the expected pics and squeezed my way out!! And that was it...$5 for 5 minutes of panic that I'm about to destroy our hire car, a dozen pics and we're on our way again!! But I loved it!

Now our next challenge was the road closures on the Highway caused by landslides earlier in the month.  I had been told in the restrooms the night before that it was definitely open again and a girl has to believe what she is told in the restrooms right?!!

The Sat Nav was desperately trying to take us on a 3 hour detour to avoid the area but I stood firm and said (both to the woman on the Sat Nav and Dan) I was staying on the 101!  And I was right to thankfully... One lane was closed but it was fine to pass through.

We stopped in Fort Bragg on the way as we were so hungry and thirsty now - it was nearly 6pm..! We got chatting in there to a lovely couple from Cincinnati who were also travellling around however they were fully without plans and just turned up in towns and endeavoured to find somewhere to stay! Said they always headed to the bar or coffee shop and asked for suggestions / recommendations and had found some amazing little places doing it that way. They had done a touch of research here and there to look at the towns in the area they were heading to check nowhere was just totally booked up but that was about it.

From there it was only about another 30mins to Mendocino and our hotel. It was very strange, but lovely, little hotel. Very old building with strange little corridors and stairways!

Within minutes of checking in we were en route to the pub! Well it was nearly 9pm now! There are 2 bars here one is next to our hotel but it is not where we were EVER going to have a drink. It was a bit of a dive to say the least! This other bar was really nice and we were quite happy there.. it was like 5 minutes walk away.

And then I heard it.. the English accent next to me!  Normally we're not bothered  about finding other English people as we like to get stuck into where we are but I was actually sat next to her so couldn't be rude. I'm English!!  Hahahaha. They were from Dorset - Sally and Tom - and had also started in Seattle around the same time as us but had hugged the coast all the way. They were also completely unplanned just like the other couple in Fort Bragg so were just tipping up and hoping to find somewhere.

 They were incredibly proud of this you could tell but then, they were older than us so I guess it really does feel a bit daring!  We swapped stories about places we'd been and it did feel like it was starting to get a bit competitive to be honest so I backed off a bit. They were intending to head to Napa Valley next and then finish in Sausalito as they'd been there before so wanted to see it again. They they are leaving on Wednesday from SF.  I promised Sally that whilst we were imbibing wine on our wine tour in Healdsburg that I would have one for her as she wasn't sure they would get to enjoy a tour in Napa..!  That is a promise I can easily keep Sally , don't you worry.

They pushed on then. I think, like us, they didn't want to get all 'oooh we must stay and talk to our fellow Englishman for the night as that is the polite thing to do'!!  So they finished their drinks and moved on.. We had a couple more in there and then merrily tootled back to our hotel passing by the  pond full of very noisy Bullfrogs - who actually go quiet as you pass.. except for the really old deaf ones who just carried on regardless ;-). Ha, well that's what Dan and I said was happening!!