California – Friends 🥰, Stunningly beautiful Coastline 🌊 , Massive Redwoods 🌲 … and yes some days … ‘it RAINS in California’ 💦💦😁

We rolled into LANCASTER during a crazy wind storm! Never seen anything like it, there was a tumbleweed explosion! Haha We had planned this visit to WEST COAST BAPTIST COLLEGE to see friends from our home church. Siblings, Joshua and Chanah Macinnis are enrolled in the same one-year bible course that our son Cameron completed here at this same college in 2008.

**When we arrive we could barely see the the sign behind that stack of tumbleweeds piled up there!** 😆

**by the next day, it had already been all cleaned up!**

**It’s such a beautiful and immaculate campus!**

**They must clean up those tumbleweeds daily! I noticed in the landscaping, even the sand is raked all nice and neat looking!**

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Bookstore-afar-1024x536.jpeg — **As soon as we got parked and set up, I skipped right on over to the Bookstore for a little shopping** 📚🛍 **while waiting for Joshua and Chanah to be done with their classes**

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 20-Below-1024x768.jpeg — **Which happens to also house The Great Awakening Cafe so I treated myself to what was Cameron’s favourite drink; a 20 Below**😋 **Got all jazzed up on this total sugar rush!**🤣

**We got a bit of a tour around the campus and church buildings**

**and Chanah even got permission for me to see her dorm room; I also got to meet some of her friends**

**Dr. Rasmussen graciously gave us permission to park the Joey in this lot right across from the Church Worship Center**!

**That evening I went with Chanah to her Choir practice and met more friends!** **There’s the Joey across the street there … so close and convenient!**

**The next morning we attended the Chapel Church Service**

**Then the next day we all went out and enjoyed a Chick-fil-A meal**

**Our visit was short but so sweet! It was great to see how God is working in the lives of these two precious young adults!**

Nearing San Francisco we opted to drive through Oakland and over the San Rafael Bridge across the bay. Got a quick glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island in the distance 🤓 Then jumped onto highway 101. It is quite amazing how fast we’ve seen the landscape change from swamp, to desert, to orchards and beautiful rolling green hills, to thick forests of massive Redwood trees, and then to the beautiful Pacific Ocean! I can honestly say, we’ve both thoroughly enjoyed our driving time through this country just as much as we’ve enjoyed stopping and visiting all the fantastic places we’ve seen and experienced!

We camped in a nice quiet small town called Rio Dell just below Eureka for convenient access to the famous Avenue of the Giants

**There had been much rain, but God gave us beautiful sunny days just when it would greatly enhance our experience!**

These 3 pictures are places I remember visiting with my family 50yrs ago! It was fun to get my picture taken in the exact same locations 50yrs later 😁

There are quite a few fun roadside attractions to visit! According to the sign, once this Log House was completed, wheels were attached and it went on a driving tour before retiring here in 1999

We enjoyed hiking in SO many areas … Humboldt, Rockefeller, etc (flatland forests) all around and through the Avenue of the Giants area, and then days later and further up the coast we hit Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park (mountainous forests) … all quite a surreal experience! The smell, and the quietness was just so beautiful and contemplative! As we walked along in awe of it all, we commented on how it makes you feel like you’re the size of an ant in amongst all those massive ancient trees!

**I felt like I needed to keep taking the pictures where Lynn was in there somewhere for size comparison** 🤓

**Lynn called this one ‘The Worlds Largest Pick Up Sticks’** 😅

On this trail we had to cross the river by walking along this fallen tree … all good as long as you don’t focus on the water rushing underneath 🫨 😬

Driving through Eureka we stopped at the Sequoia Park Zoo and the Redwood Skywalk

**It was certainly active play time for the seals when we walked by! They were putting on quite a show!**

Continuing on down the California Coastal Highway 101 … very winding, but a beautiful and interesting drive! Came around the corner and ta-da … there was the Pacific Ocean! So pretty!

Then we took a short side trip off the highway to do the Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway. There was really wide pull-outs so we ended up parking Joey and doing a hike in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. A different perspective as this forest area was quite a bit more wet and humid and also quite mountainous. The RELIVE video below ‘Among Redwood Giants’ is from this hike.

**By this point in our tour of the Redwoods, we could agree with the humour here … This way to ANOTHER BIG tree** … **really? another one?** 🤣

Arrived at our campsite in Klamath and the guy in the office told us about a really great hike down a winding one-way road that he called a ‘hidden gem’ with access to high bluff overlooks where the Klamath river empties into the ocean. Also said to watch for a WWII Radar Station that was actually disguised to look like farm buildings and is all still there to see! All along the way we’ve had so many people give us great tips like this! Such a blessing! By this time it was late afternoon but rain was expected the next day so we unhooked, set up and headed out. BIG day!

**This beautiful small meadow sits just above the rock bluff overlook**

**Certainly a hidden gem we would not have otherwise known to come and see**

**I made him sit down for the selfie at which point he began mocking me while I was trying to take the picture** 🙄 😂

**We even found the WWII bunkers before the end of our day**! **Interesting history**!

We had decided that on the rain day we would go see Paul Bunyan and the Blue Ox at The Trees of Mystery. We donned the plastic ponchos we’d saved from Niagara Falls and boy did it ever rain! ☔️ 🌧 🌧