Day 1
At the beginning of July my boyfriend John and I embarked on a week long trip including driving from San Francisco to Seattle while making a few very exciting stops along the way. I flew into SFO from NYC Friday evening after work and we woke up Saturday, to a beautiful 78 degree sunny day and after hitting up Tartine for some raspberry bread pudding (so good) we settled down in the grass in Dolores Park for an afternoon of sunbathing and people watching. After a nice, lazy afternoon, we went to meet up with an old friend of mine from high school for some fish and chips and folly at the bar Edinburgh Castle. The inside had a medieval feel to it, the drinks were strong and I was able to sample some fish and chips that were voted to be among the top 5 in San Francisco which were pretty good, not the best I have had, but the newspaper wrapping they came in was a nice touch.
The next day we awoke and headed to SFO where we would pick up our rental car for the drive to Seattle. While filling out the paperwork for the rental the Avis Agent suggested we take Highway 101 which was a different route then I had previously mapped out but he promised it would be well worth any extra time it would add to our drive (which turned out to be THREE hours but it really was worth it!) We hopped in the rental and headed over the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Ashland, Oregon. The weather was pretty much perfect, 85 degrees and sunny, as we made our way up the west coast, admiring the beautiful California landscape speckled with barns and vineyards. Of course a trip to California would not be complete without a quick visit to the In-And-Out Burger where we stopped for lunch before continuing our way up the mighty 101.
After about 3 hours of driving we found ourselves suddenly surrounded on both sides by incredible and majestic redwood trees as we made our way up the Redwood Highway. Seeing a sign for “Drive Thro Tree Park” we decided to take a little detour off 101 to see what we could see…low and behold there it was, a giant redwood that could drive your car right through. The tree, The Chandelier Tree, was massive and I have to admit for being a tiny pit-stop off Highway 101 the place was pretty hopping with sightseers.
