5/3/05 to 5/7/05
Our camera is not working so I will have no pictures today. As we leave Stone Lagoon Campground it is a little foggy especially as we climb into the mountains but soon it dissipates and the sun comes out. The first 20 miles we have seen before as we traveled through the Redwoods yesterday. The summit of a long stretch of climbing is 1,475 feet. That does not seem like much except just a couple of miles back we were at sea level. We saw some redwood trees, not any big ones though. In this area are beautiful canyons which are completely covered with trees. Beautiful. We are dropping down now next to the ocean. We are next to the ocean for about 2 – 3 blocks and then start climbing back up again until we are up very high on a bluff. We can see the ocean but not very easily as there is a great deal of fog here. Still climbing we turned away from the coast into a wooded area again with the giant redwoods. We drive through several miles of the forested mountains until we drop down into a valley. In this area there are several fields of Lilies being grown to sell. Some were Easter Lilies but not sure about all of them. They are just small plants so they are not blooming. We will be staying at a campground, Salmon Harbor Resort, in Smith River, Ca. This is just 8 miles from the Oregon border. We are glad for that as prices here in California are too high. We are counting on them being a little more reasonable in Oregon. This town is on the mouth of a river that feeds into the ocean. We can see the ocean and a lighthouse as we sit in our living room. We plan to stay here for 5 days hoping to visit some of the beautiful areas around here and to do some more beach combing. It has rained most of the time we have been here, not hard but not very nice for traveling around. We went to the towns both north and south of us on several occasions. On Wednesday we went north to Brookings, Oregon, 3 miles away, to shop for a new camera at Walmart. We found a tourism center and were told there is no Walmart in this town. We did drive around there to see the wharf there and just to see what this town was “all about”. Then we drove back to Smith River which is south of our campground. We found a Walmart there and stocked up on groceries and looked at the cameras. We also went to Pebble Beach where people hunt for Agate. I talked to a lady who told me what I should look for. She found several and gave them to me. I had fun hunting but came home with mostly pretty rocks. Thursday we stayed home all day. Friday we took Highway 199 northwest through another National Forest with beautiful views. A river ran alongside the road most of the way. It was foggy and misting so we did not go very far but we did see some more of the big Redwoods and scenery of the river that ran along side of the road. Saturday morning looked like it might quit raining. Since we have NO cell phone service here and I am having internet withdrawal we decided to try to find an area where I could get on the internet to read the email and we could make some phone calls. We were able to make phone calls but still could not connect to the internet. We ate lunch at a seafood place and then came home. Tomorrow we will leave here without accomplishing much.