Tall and green

  Crescent City, California
Thursday, June 4, 2009

Redwood country is just across the border in California and we found a great campsite under Redwood trees in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.  Old Jed knew a good tree when he saw one - California Coastal Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are the tallest in the world (but not the largest, stay tuned for their cousins, the inland Sequoias).

The old-growth redwood forests are beautiful to walk in, damp and mossy, and with the giants  towering over you it feels a bit dark and mysterious.   They have huge trunks and grow straight and tall, with the branches only starting two-thirds of the way up.  Their small cones belie their size.  Some trees are cut off at the top due to lightning

Dinner was special - the girls all cooked meatballs and spaghetti with a salad on each plate in the shape of a person.  That was all while the parents went for a walk by the river.  We arrived back to be waited on - wonderful!

We could have happily spent another couple of days on the coast and amongst the redwoods, but unfortunately time was running out.   Only 2 weeks to go now....