Down the Pacific Coast

We left Seattle and began our journey south - one that will take us all the way to San Diego before turning east. We followed US-101 along the coast, and just as I would have guessed, the coast was beautiful. It's unique in the variety you can see; the coast changes quickly from beaches to rocky cliffs and back the entire way.

The California coast...

...and the Pacific Ocean!

We stopped in Oregon to hike on Cape Lookout, which juts straight into the Pacific. Here the forest was really cool - it was piney, dense, lush, and damp: a distinct Northwest feel.

Cape Lookout trail

The Oregon coast from Cape Lookout

We also visited the Tillamook Cheese factory. The tour was lackluster, but they were generous in handing out free samples!

In northern California, we camped in part of the Redwood National Park and drove through one of the old-growth Redwood forests. The forest is very quiet and peaceful, and the trees are bigger than I could have imagined - it took seeing them in person to really understand their size.

The "Big Tree" - 21 feet in diameter

Further down the coast, we also drove on portions of Highway 1, the Shoreline Highway. This was even windier than 101, but worth it - often the road cut into the cliffs that run right along the ocean.

Just before reaching San Francisco, we detoured from the coast to drive through Sonoma and Napa counties. They weren't the sprawling grape fields I was expecting; the valleys are actually pretty small. There's a lot of winery activity everywhere; it seems these two places are just the center of attention. Regardless, it was very pretty there - wineries from tiny to huge bordered the roads on both sides.

The typical view through Napa Valley

We also passed some very old and very famous wineries along the way.

The drive through Napa brought us straight down into the Bay Area for the weekend - more on that to come!