For February vacation (I'm a teacher!), we decided at the last minute (like literally when we were in the car with our bags) to go to The Avenue of the Giants and Eureka, California, just to see what's there! I know I'm calling it spontaneous, but really... it was totally premeditated - by me! I just brought it up in the car as we were about to leave for Tahoe, or at least my darling husband thought we were leaving for Tahoe! My honey was totally awesome and said yes to my plan, so off we went!
Here's what I pinned:
I know the pins kind of look the same, but they are similar maps with different points of interest on them. The map on the left is of all the cities, towns, beaches, parks, and state parks. The pin on the right has some parks too, but it also has some sightseeing and things to do. I knew I wanted to go see the Avenue of the Giants, but after seeing both maps, I realized there'd be a lot of other interesting things for us to do as well. You know, if we ever got tired of trees... which we didn't.
What you talking about Willits?
On our first day, we just drove and drove with a couple of pit stops along the way. We ended up driving through San Francisco, to go across the Golden Gate Bridge on our way over, and to avoid the toll going north though the East Bay! We were almost to Eureka, when we decided to take this last stop for a little picnic before it got too dark. This spot by the "World Famous Grandfather Tree" was neat. The tree was impressive and next to a store that had a bunch of kitschy redwoods stuff in it and some cool looking redwood burl tables. I learned just how much redwood slabs go for, and it was surprisingly not as much as I had expected. I always think of Redwood as so expensive, but I guess when you take the shipping out of the equation, it saves a lot.
There are a ton of fun tourist traps along this route, but there was one in particular that I came to see. This was a pilgrimage of sorts, since I took this trip once before when I was three years old. There's not much I can remember about being three, but this is one of the few memories I still hold...
Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox at the
Trees of Mystery in Klamath, California!
My honey found the statues... um... impressively large.
Us at the top of the mountain after taking the 9 minute ride up the
SkyTrail.
I know Sprout looks passed out here, but he is actually trying to look at the tree tops! He did this several times throughout our walks through the redwoods. It's so cool to see that awesome sense of wonderment in your child's eyes when taking them to see something like this. I'm going to do another post soon just on the Trees of Mystery, so stay tuned!
Our drive back down from Klamath was breathtaking. We saw so many natural wonders. It was definitely awe-inspiring! We also got to so a whole bunch of elk up close. I believe it was a first for all of us! The meeting of the sea and forest here is out of this world beautiful. God, I love California.
On our way home we decided to hit up one place on the map that was calling my name:
Loleta Cheese Factory! I am a big cheese lover, as is my son, so when I saw it on the map, it piqued my interest right away. When I saw a flyer for it in our hotel lobby, I grabbed it and read that they had 36 different kinds of cheese to try! Well, that sealed the deal!
Although I didn't get to try all 36, I definitely got to try around 20 different cheeses and picked up a few to take home. Initially, we were feeling disappointed, because we were so far from home, we figured the cheese would never make it. However, the woman working inside told us that the cheese would be fine not being refrigerated for up to 4 days, as long as we kept it sealed and from getting too warm. Eureka! I mean... Loleta! Love your cheese!
One other tip the wonderful staff at Loleta Cheese Factory mentioned was that in the next town of Ferndale, we needed to stop by Humboldt Sweets and get a cinnamon roll. She said they were huge and delicious!
The town of Ferndale, California.
I stayed in the car with the Sprout while my honey went inside to get our cinnamon roll. ONE cinnamon roll I said, because the woman at the cheese factory said they were big enough to share.
My honey comes out with two boxes and a bag. Sigh...
When he comes back to the car, of course I had to ask what he had done! Why did he get so many cinnamon rolls! He told me that when he went inside he began to make small talk with the man behind the counter. He told him that we were form San Jose and he said that he LOVES the Sharks and is a huge fan! He ended up giving us two giant chocolate covered cream puffs stuffed with strawberries and a chocolate chip cookie for free! Thanks Humboldt Sweets! We'll be back!
So, my pictures end here. Why no picture of the cinnamon roll, you ask? I think you know why. It was so good, we ate it before we could take a picture! However, I did find a picture of one on there website, so here's a pin, for your drooling pleasure...
. The copper shades came from Pixi by Petra Mesmerizing Mineral Eye Duo in Apricot Glow. The sparkly black I used as liner is an Urban Decay shadow called Oil Slick, and of course, I used Yves Saint Laurent Volume Effet Faux Cils Luxurious Mascara
from my Influenster VoxBox. 
