Page 136 - 2020 Travel Guide to California

LADY WASHINGTON at Humboldt Bay’s
marina, above; marveling at the tall trees
in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, left;
the Carson Mansion is an elegant
Victorian house in Old Town Eureka,
bottom; toasting the sunset at Little River
in Mendocino County, opposite.
DRIVE
»
TOUR
From the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE,
head over to the SONOMA COAST
at BODEGA BAY (yes, that Bodega
Bay: Alfred Hitchcock filmed The
Birds there), and follow dramatic,
winding Highway 1 north past the
old Russian fort, FORT ROSS, and
Sea Ranch, GUALALA, MENDOCINO
and FORT BRAGG before heading
inland to connect with Highway
101—“The Redwood Highway”—at
LEGGETT, site of the DRIVE-THRU
TREE PARK. Continuing north on
the Redwood Highway, you’ll come
to HUMBOLDT REDWOODS STATE
PARK and the AVENUE OF THE
GIANTS, EUREKA and the cluster of
redwood parks extending almost to
the Oregon border.
134 2020 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA
recipes; vineyards close enough to the coast
to catch the salt spray; an old Russian
trading fort; handsome Victorian villages;
possible glimpses of the elusive creature
known as Bigfoot; wealthy, tie-dyed growers
of the region’s largest cash crop, which Cal-
ifornia voters recently legalized; and bouts
of creative madness such as elaborate sculp-
tures racing across the landscape.
For generations, the North Coast was
said to be on the far side of the “redwood
curtain,” the psychological barrier formed
by narrow, tortuous Highway 101, which
was little more than a two-lane conduit for
heavily-laden logging trucks. But Cali-
fornia has spent the last two decades
improving the road—straightening curves,
widening it in many places to four lanes—
and now the road is an easy drive.
CRESCENT
CITY
EUREKA
HUMBOLDT
REDWOODS
STATE PARK
AVENUE OF THE GIANTS
LEGGETT
MENDOCINO
GUALALA
FORT ROSS
BODEGA BAY
SAN FRANCISCO
DON LEONARD; SERGEY NOVIKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK; VICTORIA DITKOVSKY/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: MENDOCINO COUNTY CVB