Earlier this year, Mike and I drove 12 (!!!!) hours to Northern California to see the redwoods. We drove from LA to San Francisco and spent the night there, then drove the rest of the 6 hours the next day. On our way out of San Francisco, we stopped at the San Rafael Mission (we love the CA missions!). It was really nice and peaceful. There were a few stops along the way, like a house that was made out of a hollowed out log and a redwood that you could drive through!

The first day we were in the redwoods, we went to Crescent City, which was north of where we stayed. It’s almost at sea level, which makes it uniquely susceptible to tsunamis. The city has seen damage from two tsunamis in history. They have a lighthouse on an island, which is the highest point in the city, but is only accessible during low tide. It was a really neat place and was a nice way to spend the morning before we got to the redwoods!

This area of California is made up of three different parks – Redwood National and State Parks, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Our first day, we spent time in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. We did a drive on Howland Hill Road, which is described as “a dirt road where the redwoods kiss your car.” It’s a 10 mile drive that winds through a redwood forest and there are literally times where you have to maneuver the car in order to get between trees! Mike took a great video of the drive:

After the drive, we did a short hike and drove back to the hotel. On the way back, we discovered a place called Elk Meadow – there were no elk present, but we decided that we would stop here every day to keep an eye on the elk situation. Later in the week, this paid off! But for now, here are the elk-free pictures from our trip north and the first day in the redwoods!