California Road Trip 2016, Part 1
Did you know that this year if you (I) took off at Veterans Day and didn’t return to work until the end of the Thanksgiving weekend you (I) would only need to take 8 days off work? That’s 17 days for the price of 8. Sold! We hit the road. 17 days and 16 nights on the road and in the camper. But where to go? How about south along the California coast, then loop back up north along a couple parks along the Sierra Nevada. We were off on an epic trip, 2450 miles later we’re back home, here’s the story.
Up Early
We hit the road in the dark, how most good road trips start at least in my memory, and headed over the Cascades and on to the redwood coast. One stop in Grants Pass at Ma Mosa’s for a stellar breakfast and then on to the redwoods down highway 199. We were foiled last year on a quest to camp at Gold Bluffs Beach, due to what we were told was a landslide although we saw little evidence of anything that wouldn’t have been passable, but we weren’t turned around this year. We quickly learned, don’t believe any sign you see (or book you read) in your travels, verify. The road is closed, the campground is full, etc. no it isn’t, check it out for yourself. We arrived just after noon, secured our site and headed to Fern Canyon.