What a day!

Yesterday, having decided a couple days earlier to do so, Rachel and I got in the car (the Camry), gased up (a totally expensive affair these days) and drove! We drove to the coast. It's a strange trip- the quickest way to the coast for us is to drive 30 miles north to Grant's Pass, then drive southwest into California and to the coast.

Actually, in all fairness, we decided we were going to try to drive down to the Redwood National forest and see some of the amazing redwood trees. But since that's right near the coast, we decided to go there, too, since I've had this inherent desire to see the Pacific Ocean for a LONG time! And living so close, it's just... gotta be done.

The drive was absolutely beautiful! It was like our drive through northern California (on our move out here) times 10. Mountains, trees, snow-caps, rivers, cliffs- it was... wow. Once you get into California, the road follows the sides of mountains- up some, down some and always around corners. Some corners you barely can see anything, some are 25mph and you'd better do that. And the road follows a river, so it's like- one side of you is mountain, the other is open air and a huge drop down into the river, which is completely lined with rocks on either side. and huge rocks.

The view down from the road at one of the middle/lower points of the road.

The redwood forest, what we saw of it, was absolutely amazing. We didn't get as far as we'd liked to have fo the day, but we still had an amzing day. The redwoods in the norther part of the forest are huge, and we found a place to take a nice hike- although it would be awesome to find bigger trails.


Rachel and I in front of one of the average sized redwood trees... Wow!

The Pacific Ocean in Norther California is what I'd hope it would be and then more! I'm told the Oregon Coast is even better, so I'm totally stoked to do that! When we stopped, it was so freakin' windy!! Can't believe how windy it was, but it made the waves crash on the rocks and... added to the feeling.


picture of me- looking toward the ocean. amazing! words can't describe...

I have sized down a handful of pictures and put them together in some pages, you can check the out by clicking HERE

It was such a great day! The scenery could not be described- God's handiwork displayed all around us! It was so... can't describe it! It reminded me, as I said, of our drive on the way moving here through northern California, but 10 times better! Everything we saw kinda reminded me of things I'd seen, or places I've been, but at the same time, it was like NOTHING I've ever known or experienced! And I mean that- it wasn't the "best" experience, but it was not in the same category as any other.

I encourage you to check out all the pictures- enjoy them, and let me know how you like them! They've been sized down to save website space, but they are good quality. Anyway- enjoy them.

(my apologies if these pictures or the links don't work- my bandwidth transfer/hr is too low- check back later)