Sunsets & Redwoods
A week north of SF from the coast to the Avenue of the Giants
It was an easy trip up north of SF to drive the twisty roads and eat Michelin starred food. Then, to walk it all off, we hiked the Avenue of the Giants — a stunning 35 mile drive with over 100 miles of hiking in the old growth redwoods where trees often grow to more than 300 feet tall. To begin, we took the little known Marshall Petaluma Road that went straight to Marshall for some amazing oysters at Hog Island Oyster Co. Then we continued twisting up the coast to Elk on Rt. 1. It was amusing to follow a Porsche 911 GTS as it tried to pull away from us — and continued to fail! A few nights at the Elk Cove Inn included a fantastic dinner at the inn and then a 2 Michelin star lunch at the Harbor House Inn. Who knows if such splurges are really worth it, but the mushrooms and fresh fish were some of the best dishes we have had in the US.
I lit a real fire in our room’s old iron stove and we watched the birds and tides from the picture window. It was one of our fondest memories of that area.
Then we took another twisty road to cross over from Fort Bragg to Miranda using the Shoreline Highway. With no guard rails, huge trees right up to the edge of the road and steep drop offs, I was a bit more reasonable with no Porsches to catch. This was our second time at the Miranda Gardens tourist cabins (built in 1929) and we liked it just as much. Just be sure about the days the only 2 restaurants in town are actually open! They seem to take a mid-week vacation once in a while. When you do get a table, try the local beer — it is awesome — especially the Numb Numb Juice hazy IPA from Fall River Brewing.
Another quick trip north from SF took us to the MacCallum House in Mendocino, Miranda and then Mount Shasta. The city of Shasta itself was not as impressive as I hoped — it seems to exist only for groovy hikers. And somehow we did not find the hikes all that rewarding either.
