Just keep driving, just keep driving, driving…

Driving into the night can come with a whole set of adventures. After spending sunset at the cypress tree tunnel, we did not continue to follow CA Hwy 1.

Nighttime driving is not exactly scenic along the coast, I thought.

Plus I really wanted to cover ground and maybe even spend an entire day at the Redwoods National & State Parks. So we hopped onto Highway 101 to tackle the 5-6 hour drive north. 

The thing about driving into the night is that you’ll miss roadside attractions, which is part of the excitement of taking road trips…

…or you may miss your intended destination altogether. Oops!

It was already midnight, but we kept driving expecting a giant National Park welcome sign. Our GPS was also spotty, so we were driving on our own. In the fogginess of the night, we saw several signs to some cool roadside attractions, we saw campground signs, and could even smell the familiar smell of campfire.

But we have to keep driving to reach the Redwoods, I said out loud.

We had already missed a good chunk of the parks before realizing we were already there. I did not know that the park was not just a single national park, but rather a series of parks along the northern coast of California. 

We live and we learn.

That night we slept in our car along the side of a random neighborhood road. The night was chilly and we were sooo tired, but we were already eager to start our day.

The rest is herstory.

Below are photos and blurbs from our day spent among the tallest trees you will ever meet. Don’t miss them! :)

Love & Adventure,

Denise

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REDWOODS NATIONAL & STATE PARKS

If you have not been following — this was now Day 9 of our wildest California road trip. Our day began with a hike to Fern Canyon.

And the sun was out and proud!

It made for a very humid walk…

But have you ever seen tall walls covered in greenery?!

Oh hey, love <3

We hiked before noon but crowds were already beginning to gather.

This place reminded me of Oneonta Gorge in Oregon. You can find that post here. 

Aaaand smile!

All I wanted to do was cuddle my face against the fluff of greenery :)

I kid you not –the sun made this wall so darn vibrant!

So we played along the wall for a while longer…

<3

…And we headed back to continue our visit among the trees.

Meet thee tallest trees of the world. The Coastal Redwoods.

I’ll be honest. I had no idea how to best photograph these trees to capture just how grand they were.

The Coastal Redwoods may not have the circumference that the Giant Sequoias have, but they make up for it in height. 

We joined a park ranger guided hike only because we didn’t know where else to hike. But it actually turned out to be very informative and enjoyable, and we were happy we decided to join :)

Meet the Big Tree. A 1500-year-old beauty. Imagine living for that many years. What would be your legacy?

And then there was a time when these trees were cut into drive-thrus to attract tourists like us…

I cannot believe these trees are still standing after having been carved like this (a practice no longer done).

But I fulfilled a childhood dream to drive through these giants, just as I watched in the movies. I think childhood me would be ecstatic to know I’d bring us here one day…

…and thank you for coming along <3 

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Stay curious, wild hearts!

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