Thursday morning, we left Dunsmuir, CA heading SOUTH on I-5 because we wanted to see the famous coastal redwoods, and the best crossing point was from Redding, which is south of Dunsmuir 50 or so miles. Several people had advised us not to go that route, because it was so full of twists and turns, but we decided we had plenty of time, so we'd give it a try. Are we ever glad we did! The twists and turns were because of the mountainous terrain--BEAUTIFUL mountains, with gorgeous scenes of mountain streams running through lush evergreens and golden deciduous trees in all their autumn grandeur. We stopped several times to gawk and take pictures, but the camera just can't do justice to what God allows the human eye/brain to experience.
Shortly after we turned north on Highway 101, we were in redwood country. These giants have always enthralled me. According to one sign, there are three types of redwoods: the Giant Sequoia, which "cling to life in the California's towering Sierra Nevadas;" the Dawn Redwoods, which are native to China (if any reading this have been to my house, no doubt you have seen the three specimens of this type in my back yard in Joplin); and these Coastal Redwoods, according to the sign, reach heights over 350 feet and "live for 2000 years and thrive in the region's mild climate, standing as ever-living examples of the tallest trees in the world." We hiked some short fern-lined trails through these majestic pillars, imagining ourselves as Frodo and his companions in Lothlorien.
When you leave Redwood Country another kind of beauty awaits you: The Oregon Coast. If you've been there, you know what I mean. The highway winds its way along the coast, rising and falling with the foothills of the coastal mountains that sometimes jut into the sea, leaving huge boulders in the surf, sometimes hugging the beach, sometimes several hundred yards out in the water. Lighthouses, pelicans, elk, sea lions, and the white foam of the breakers on the rocks make this an enchanted place. We stopped for the night in the same town where I stopped when I came on this same route in 1996: Brookings, OR. In fact, we stayed in the same motel and ate in the same restaurant overlooking the ocean that I had such fond memories of.
Friday we wended our way up the Oregon coast, enjoying all the beauty, and then crossed the coastal range on Highway 20 (the same highway that runs through my home town of Correctionville, Iowa!), arriving at Bernard and Audrey Plumb's house in Corvallis just in time for them to take us out to a very nice dinner at McGrath's Fish House. What a blessing this dear couple has been to us and to LATM over the years. I met them on my first trip out here 11 years ago, and they have been such encouragers ever since. They even asked for (and apparently enjoyed) a late-night Power-Point presentation of our work. Audrey's comment that they read every word of everything they receive from LATM was encouraging to hear. God bless the Plumbs! They saved us a motel bill that night and sent us off refreshed the blessed the next morning.
Phil
3 comments:
Dear Friends- i remember as a young teen ager going thru the redwoods - wow. We took our family in 1980 when we were at Winema and down to LA to put Larry on a plane to OCC - Went thru the tree in our Chrysler Station Wagon- smile. Think of you often. Will keep checking the blog- I think I am about to make it - smile Marilyn
I can't believe all the lovely places you have been, such a blessing, enjoy all of it for all of us here in Joplin. Happy birthday Jason tomorrow, thinking of you!!!!!!!!
Rose
I'm glad you took the scenic route. I remember traveling there with my parents in '92. I had just turned 16 and my dad let me be the one to drive through one of those tunneled out trees.
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