Trees of Mystery

About 35 miles south of the Oregon border was a park named Trees of Mystery.  Trees in this park are reported to be more than 2000 years old and the park contains the ancient redwoods, wood sculptures and other flora.  A Tram takes you up above the trees and stops: it is a silent and beautiful view of the ancient trees.

Moss and ferns grew on everything: tree limbs, tree trunks and fence posts.

The decaying tree trunks displayed a surprising palette of color.

I have no idea what these are (they resemble columbine) but the pinks were so striking.

Sometimes a tree falls in the forest-and the others catch it!

The fence post puts the tree trunk's size into perspective.

The cathedral trees

very different bark on these tree varieties

The tree grows horizontally and becomes the root for the others.

One tree, lots of variation.

Going down?

Candelabra tree

Lumberjacks

Dinner time!

Long day. Yawn!

Our last night at a California beach.

We drove up a few miles to Orick, California and had supper at an old diner.  Chicken fried steak with hash browns and fresh vegetable soup was the special of the day and it came with soft serve ice cream for dessert.  Of course, I had to try the fresh blackberry pie (berries picked before work in the morning by the pie chef!)  We stopped to pick up some staples at the grocery and were greeted by 2 young entrepreneurs selling blackberry jam: $5 for a pint.  They said it was great stuff, "if you don't like the seeds you can just spit 'em out or swallow 'em.  It's great on, well, anything, and our Mom makes it and she's a really good cook." So, of course, I bought one.

This young man was smelting, and it was amazing to watch.  He filled that net with small, shiny fish that the gulls were waiting to get away from him!

This is probably one of my favorites, from an artistic perspective.  I have no idea who they are, but the little girl was wearing a pretty grown up sized jacket!

Another gorgeous sunset over the Pacific.

The elk herd

Yet another time, I squealed at Mark to pull off the road, I had to take a picture.  We were just outside of Trinidad, California. I saw elk in the meadow, just off the highway.  I grabbed my long lens and worked my way quietly from behind so that I could get a good shot.  I was oblivious to everything around me except for this herd of 8 elk.  They were breathtaking.

I barely moved and put my camera in quiet mode so that I wouldn't disturb these magnificent creatures.  I was unaware that our big rig and my long lens were drawing a crowd, and soon the elk were scared away.  But, not before I had a chance to capture some moments of my own.  Thanks Mark, for once again sitting patiently in the motorhome while I was taking pictures by the side of the road. 

I think this was about the time when all the cell phone carrying tourists arrived!  

The Victorian Village of Ferndale, California

The town was settled by Dutch dairymen who built many of the homes and storefronts in Victorian style.  There were a number of foursquare homes and all the stores had at least a Victorian facade.  Beautifully maintained, the main street looked like it was straight out of a movie.

I don't know if it is possible to photograph this town without cars and people in the shot.  I love this anyway: the reflections in the windows make this a really cool pic.

I really liked the way that this display framed the crystals.  The pic wasn't all that special, but the shop was very interesting!

This bed and breakfast had beautifully manicured gardens to complement the edifice.  So pretty!

The pastoral scenes entering town were a sharp contrast to the ornate city streets.