Redwood National Park Adventure- Day 1 and 2- March 2011

St.Louis to Portland Oregon ( via Dallas).
Day one of the Redwood Adventure finds us flying to Portland, Oregon. Arriving at 11:30 pm local time and bedding down for the night near the Portland Airport in a Fairfield Inn. With American Airlines you can't fly direct, you have to fly through either Chicago O'Hare or Dallas. I always choose to stay away from O'Hare.
There was still lots of snow in the higher elevations as we entered Northern California
After getting up in the morning in Portland we headed for California. About 330 miles from Portland to Crescent City, CA. The scenery was really pretty along the way with many chances to see lots of water falls. With as much rain as the area has had, water was falling from everywhere.
We stopped at the Jedediah Smith/ Hiouchi Information Center and got some great advice on trail hikes. The volunteer was very helpful. I bought a couple of awesome maps... unfortunately they were not waterproof!

Getting to Crescent City we stayed at the Curly Redwood Lodge. a bit of an institution and conversation piece as it was all made out of a single redwood tree... including the furniture in the rooms
After some excellent lunch ( see recommended restaurants at the end of the blog) we ventured out on to the beach and pier for a walk about. It gave Vicky a chance to view the area for the first time.
The harbor cliffs give a great view of the otters and sea lions playing in the surf just off shore
The sea lions have little fear of the human population ( especially at their size) and snooze right up on the pier.
Even though it had been cloudy and rainy all day the sunset was beautiful.
Crescent City is named for its crescent shaped harbor
This is working dock and as we were enjoying the sunset the last boat brought in days catch ( shrimp or crab)















 

Recommended Restaurants Day 1
Good Harvest Cafe- organic food, excellent clam chowder, great beer- Raven's Eye Stout
The Fisherman- late night breakfast

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