The Glitzy Redwoods

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October 9, 2006, Friday. We started the day biking around Eureka, the home of some wonderful old Victorian Mansions, evidence of the wealth of the lumber business years gone-by. The town today seems to be hodgepodge of trendy shops, cafes, old bars, old businesses many closed and lots of homeless souls.
Of course, Bob found a brewery, The Lost Coast Brewery, and we had the obligatory sampler. In this area there is a large Mexican population, so the Mexican restaurants are quite good.
Down the road we deviated into the Humboldt Redwoods SP, Avenue of the Avenue of the Giants, an auto tour. It is the glitzy version of the Redwood Forest, trees cut for autos to drive through (?) for a fee, lots and lots of redwood touristy stuff. A little too commercial for such a natural wonder.
October 10, 2006, Saturday. Our night at Redway campground was painful. The construction seemed to be going on all night and lots of trucks in our backyard—people coming and going after midnight.
Richardson Grove Redwood SP is a lovely place for a hike, so we took the Lookout Trail. It was just lovely; a nice trail with a great view. From Richardson we began our trek across from Rt.#101 to Rt. # 1. It is not a road for sissys----hairpins turns, ups and downs, a sign that indicates arrows going in and out, and up and down followed by-- next 35 miles!! I was glad when we made it to Rt. 1. We are spending the night at MacKerricher SP. Took a short bike ride around and made arrangements for a horseback ride tomorrow. A nice quiet evening!

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