Page 114 - 2022-2023 Travel Guide to California

“Pink Lady” Victorian house in Eureka, above;
Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues at
“Trees of Mystery”, Klamath, left; a wild otter at
Big Lagoon, Humboldt, bottom; coastline
at Redwood National Park, 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). Follow dramatic, winding
Highway 1 north past FORT ROSS (a
former Russian fort), 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.
112 2022-23 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
California voters recently legalized; and
bouts of creative madness such as elaborate
sculptures 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
ALLARD ONE/SHUTTERSTOCK; OVIDIU HRUBARU/SHUTTERSTOCK; TREVOR MCBROOM/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: ZACK FRANK/SHUTTERSTOCK