Smart would have been to stay on Interstate 5 to make our way home, but the Redwoods and another glance at the ocean were calling. In Grant Pass, Oregon, we decided to deviate and get on the 199 that took us through O’Brien, Oregon, before dropping us into California on a new border crossing we’ve not traveled on yet.

We are on the edge of the Redwoods.

And are about to get on a trail to have a closer look at these coastal giants.

It’s not every day that we get to see such giant root balls.

But it does seem like it’s almost every day we get to see ferns, well, at least four days in a row on this trip.

Trees growing on trees are an interesting sight. Somehow, I have to think about Alien when looking at this parasitic relationship.

We can never see enough of the ocean and would rather sacrifice some sleep and driving comfort to have one more beautiful encounter with it than the convenience of arriving home early just to catch up on laundry or some other mundane nonsense.

Seeing we are here, we might as well go for it and visit a beach we’ve never explored before.

And while we’re at it, why not head down this small road on the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park to visit Fern Canyon?

Nice views of the ocean can be had out here.

But also some amazing god rays cutting through the thin veneer of nearly invisible fog.

Here we are at Fern Canyon, unprepared for a hike through the stream, but the view is amazing all the same for how far we did get to walk into the canyon.

The colors of fall.

And the water that sustains all of this life…

…where once again, we encounter the mushrooms that are such an important part of this ecosystem.

Well, this is kind of pathetic as here it is getting dark and we’ve just again reached the ocean. We left the 101 in Leggett, California, and thought, “Just how long could it take to get out to the ocean for one final look?” Turns out that Highway 1 from Leggett to Hardy is a switchback nightmare that took forever, and while we missed the sunset, we were still able to capture some of the glowing remnants.

To help shorten our drive home tomorrow, we decided to keep driving past Fort Bragg and managed to stay awake until Pleasant Hill, California, which is in the Bay Area.