The Itinery

Three girls on a road trip.  We all arrived in San Francisco on different flights and left for our adventure on a Wednesday morning.  Leaving from the SFO airport area, we were promptly met with traffic and it seemed to take *forever* to get across the Golden Gate Bridge.  Not the greatest start to our trip, but once we got to Sausalito, we didn't really encounter any more traffic.

Day One
San Francisco to Fortuna via Fort Bragg = 288 miles

Day Two
Fortuna to Crescent City = 102 miles

Day Three
Crescent City to Oregon State Line and back to Crescent City = 52 miles

Day Four
Crescent City to Garberville = 152 miles

Day Five
Garberville to San Francisco Airport = 225 miles

That's just over 800 miles in five days (not counting all of our little side trips).  I enjoyed every mile of the trip!

Benbow Inn

One of our rooms in the historic portion of the Benbow Inn.

I wish I'd know this prior to packing, but being that the inn is historic, there is no elevator.  I had to haul that big ol' suitcase up two flights of stairs!  In hindsight, a small overnight bag would've been prudent.

There are two things worth mentioning about this photo:  1.  When's the last time you stayed in a hotel that had actual metal keys instead of a plastic card?  2. Each room had a decanter of sherry (or was it cognac) in it for the guests.  I took a sip but decided I was NOT a fan of whatever it was.

The view from the room.  These windows also opened so I could enjoy the crisp fall air.

This is the courtyard that are rooms overlooked.

I think this little cottage was available for nightly rentals.

A beautiful lawn, next to a river, for relaxing.  As a side note, this was the only place on the property where I could get a cell phone signal!

A view of the inn from the lawn.

I thought this bridge over the river was magnificent.

Saracina Vineyard

On the way to the airport, we stopped at this winery.  I thought the cellar was very cool looking and made for fun photo.  This pic was taken with my iPhone and it turned out very good, in my opinion.

Trees of Mystery

The Trees of Mystery could legitimately be called a tourist trap but it was a lot of fun nonetheless.

These giant statues were right out front.  I haven't seen Paul Bunyan or Babe, his big blue ox, in awhile.

This informative sign helped point out that the tree beside it (pictured below) has other trees growing on its branches.  I've never heard of a family tree before.

Look at that regular sized tree growing on the branch of a giant tree!

Another tree on a tree.

Pretty cool.

You know how they say the only reason we have signs is because someone, somewhere has already done what they're telling us not to do?  So what does "molesting" a tree look like?

Maybe this is what "molesting" a tree looks like!

More tree molesting.

That's the ocean off in the distance. 

Shrine Drive-Thru Tree

Another tourist trap!  Love them!

You had to back down off of this drive-on log.  I couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't have just built a ramp down off the other side?  Hokey.

Wedding Rock

The views were amazing from Wedding Rock.

We were trying to figure out what these plants growing on the rocks were.  They look like mini trees or something.