Day 2 - Crazy Roads

We were up and leaving the hotel in Arcata, California a bit late at 8am.  It was a little overcast and the hotel staff were complaining about the lack of sunshine but, we were thankful for the coolness of the morning.  Our first destination was the redwoods and the drive through tree.  The drive was beautiful!

Steve almost died taking this picture by laying in the road

See what I mean?

When we got to the drive through tree, we were a bit disappointed.  Yelp gave it great reviews but it was definitely a bummer!  The gift shop along with the bathrooms never opened.  The park was tiny and the drive through tree was not big enough for our car and it was held together by wires.  Clarke thought it looked fake.  We had fun running around and poking our heads through the windows of the tiny tree house and posing with the carved animals, though.

Jaz took the picture

After locating a bathroom, we decided to add a stop Steve discovered online called glass beach.  It is located in Fort Brag, California.  In the early 20th century people would discard household trash such as glass, appliances and even vehicles.  The city cleaned it up a bit and along with the ocean, it is no longer a smelly dumping ground.  The sand however, is covered with shards of smooth glass and pottery.  The drawback to visiting this beach is that it is located off Hwy 1 in California.  As we began the journey this is what we saw:

The road was not just a little curvy, but the most ridiculous road ever!  When we finally arrived at glass beach, our first look was pure disappointment.  From above, the beach just looks like plain little rocks and bits of debris.  We were ready to give up but the kids decided to climb down the small cliff to check it out.  Up close, all the "debris" were shards of glass.  It was beautiful.  We all sat and sifted through the glass finding treasures.

Traveling to and from glass beach took us a little longer than planned so we arrived at our "lunch" destination at 4:00.  It was a very tasty authentic Mexican restaurant locally owned in Santa Rosa.  

A few blocks from the restaurant was a pretty amazing tower made of bicycle parts.

Our next destination was San Francisco. We planned to walk around and ride the public transportation but decided to just drive a bit and see the sights.  The golden gate bridge always looks bigger in person, I think. We took this picture at Battery Spencer overlooking the bay.

Steve really wanted to drive down Lombard street.  The traffic, hills, and curves were an overwhelming challenge and I was ready for the vehicle to stop moving.

Our stop for the night was located in Merced, California.  Arriving at 10pm, we were all ready for bed!