A summer post a little late as per usual... As today begins the first day of fall, I felt it was time to officially end summer with a few last posts of summers best. I'm really going to miss this summer, if you couldn't already tell. From PNW oceans to redwoods, this is a continue from the Oregon adventure post here. Brookings was the last stop in Oregon we made before California. We left Brookings just before sunset, and made it to Crescent City a little after sunset. Google maps led us to a campground right outside Redwood national park. Unfortunately, the campground was at capacity that night. So we were redirected to a spot 10 miles down the road.. which ended up being the perfect spot right in the middle of the park. It was so dark, I couldn't even see where we were going. Literally set up the tent in the middle of the forest. I couldn't even describe my excitement to what I woke to! As much as I love beaches and the ocean, I'm definitely more a woodsy mountain girl. Photos don't even do justice of these trees in redwoods. I wanted to stay another night but our journey down the coast continued.
Next stop on the adventure of course a favorite of mine...wine county. We ended up venturing off the coast on this day to Mendocino Valley. This is the valley of the pinot grapes, my favorite wine grape. The first stop we made was Handley cellars. The great thing about all the wineries we randomly chose to stop at in this valley happen to be complimentary (not all of the wineries are) and everyone was so friendly. And all were pup friendly which was even better. My favorite winery was the lazy creek vineyards. This is known as the second oldest vineyard in the valley. Their pinot noir was the best of the bunch that I tried that day, so I ended up splurging on a bottle in this winery. I wanted to stay longer in this valley.. but the wine tasting was kicking in and we needed to find some food fast. We ended up stopping in the town of Healdsburg for something to eat and a resting stop to fully charge. I have to say when you're on the road with two iphones, two cameras, a go pro, and ipad and only one outlet to charge in a car.. the charge struggle is real. And my phone was the first to always die. Pretty sure we used every outlet in this stop to charge. Stayed long enough for a 70% charge.. and then back on the road.
We made it to San Francisco just before sunset.. as my phone died again (hence the lack of photos on instagram and snapchat of these places). Really there was not much to see or capture in SF because the fog was so heavy. As much as I love SF, we decided not to stay the night in the city. We were still in that beach camping state of mind. SF came up so quickly! Wasn't ready for city life. The drive continued through SF, down the coast, and through a few more towns until we found one to set up tent. I couldn't even tell you the name of the small town we stayed in that night. It was really late and kind of a blur, but I do remember stopping for tacos in this town. Tacos saved this adventure many times. So here's to tacos.. and some my favorites from California.
