We are staying at Richardson Grove RV Park. It is a Passport America park with 30 amps, water and sewer. No WIFI or cable at this park but it is only 16.50 per night and even though the PA site says two day minimum they allow you to stay longer if no events are happening. The big down side is no over the air TV channels (not too much of a biggie for us were it not for the Olympics. Another issue is we only get 1X on our Verizon WIFI – at least it is a strong 1X.
The park is convenient to the town of Garberville and to the Avenue of Giants. We tried to take part of the Avenue of Giants on the way down here but the 4 mile segment we took was not real big-rig friendly so we got back on California Highway 101 for the remainder of the 140 mile drive south.
We parked in site 65, a pull through with a small tree that apparently needed a bit of a trim job to accommodate Abbey properly. The first day we drove over to Garberville to check the town out. Interesting little town with an interesting vibe… we couldn’t put our finger on what the vibe was, but as we wandered the streets it became 
apparent that we had found Marijuana Central in California. Later reading attested to the fact that Humboldt County has a wee bit of a problem with the wacky weed…
The next day we elected to drive up the entire Avenue of Giants, an alternate scenic route off 101. One can really never tire of seeing these majestic trees. The enormous bases taper to a skinny top some 300 plus feet above. Their fine leaves allowing shimmers of light to escape the foliage overhead to the fern ground below. I really never thought redwoods had different sexes until I saw the tree to the right… hmmmmm…. These are some mighty big trees and after hundreds of years they take on some mysterious shapes. One large specimen tree had fallen and was cut in two with the diameter of the piece cut being greater than 18 feet some 25 feet above its base. And look at Sharon standing beside the upended tree
We noticed a side rode that cut off of the Avenue of Giants and took it only to discover it ended at the Eel Rive where we were able drive to the river’s edge. The maples along the banks were exquisitely backlit by the warming sun. Taking full advantage of temperatures in the mid 80’s combined with the blue green waters of the Eel River we got our chairs out and enjoyed some relaxing time by the water… inspecting rocks, rock juggling, and skipping stones on the river like children. Fun, fun, fun…. what can we say?!
A glorious day ended with a nice glass of wine and a great dinner of Emeril Lagasse's beef stroganoff… But now we have a bit of a dilemma as we still need to get to the San Francisco area for Sharon’s six week follow-up appointment to check her surgically repaired fractured wrist. The spot I planned to stay at next was the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds, but alas the annual county fair is happening there this week so we will have to go to plan B… If only we knew what it was! So we may have to stay here another day to figure out where we will go next, ahhhh the life of full timing…
Any suggestions for a place to stay near the San Francisco Bay area???
Hi, read and enjoy you blog. Found it since we were headed to places you had been. We stayed at a nice little park in Napa, Skyline Wilderness Park. You can read about it on our blog at: http://goingrvway.blogspot.com/2012/06/napa-valley-lake-berryessa-area.html $33 per night is not bad for the area. --Dave
ReplyDeleteWhat a glorious day indeed! Those trees are just magnificent and your pictures really show that. Nice job!!
ReplyDeleteGreat tree photo's. You should check to see if any of the local farmers participate in the Harvest Host program ;)
ReplyDeletePaul and Mary have stayed at the Plesanton Fair grounds. Not very pretty, but reasonable and easy to get to S.F.
ReplyDeleteIf you are Elk members, you can stay at the Elks Lodge in Petaluma, CA. We stayed there. Very nice!
ReplyDeleteI believe there are Wineries you can stay at. Can't remember the website to find them.
ReplyDeleteMore memories. I so love reading about RVers when they go to the places we have been. It enhances our memories and makes us want to come back and see more. We stayed at a motel in Gaberville before heading to the coast. We drove through the Chandler Tree. I wouldn't recommend it for RVs *haha.* We thought Mendocino would be a good place to have lunch but it was Farmers Market day and what a crowd... couldn't find a park. Need to go back there too. What a pretty town. We stopped a little further on at a roadside shop at Little River and watched the fog roll in. We wanted to reach Bodega Bay but the winding road got to us and I'd had enough of the long drops down to the ocean. Sometimes I'm an exceedingly nervous passenger. We turned inland somewhere, possibly Jenner, and ended up staying at Santa Rosa. It was a wonderful day but a very windy road. We were surprised by the number of large RVs on the narrow mountain road from Gaberville which was reminiscent of our own local roads but so much more of it.
I long to visit the Californian Redwood area again with more time to spare. The forests are magical.
Poor Christchurch. Many people are sorted, our family among them but 100s of others are still battling with the officialdom and insurance. Almost two years have gone by and some may have another year or more before their situation is clear. Terrible for them. The Cathedral has become a bone of contention with a vociferous group wanting total restoration regardless of cost. The Church leaders have made a decision that seems reasonable to me. It's so sad to see all the protest and arguing in the wake of a disaster. The central part of the city is unrecognisable from the air but the re-build plans seem to be full of promise and renewed life for the city. We will be staying there again in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see the changes as last time we were there demolition of houses in the affected suburbs was beginning. It's awful to see so many gaps. While the houses stood many did not look as badly damaged, from the street, as they obviously were. I think this is the worst time for many people who live in the Christchurch. They are weary of the process and the difficult conditions. The promise of a better future still seems a long way off.
Will let you know how we find things later in September.
Blessings.
Sad to here about the pace at which Christchurch is healing... I look forward to you next report...
DeleteI hate to say this, but when we are driving through the Bay area, we keep going north till we get to Richardson Grove! One place you might try however, is the Santa Rosa fairgrounds, not as close as you might like, but places close to the city are hard to come by and EXPENSIVE!. good luck and fun to read about one of our favorite little overnighter campgrounds
ReplyDeleteI would try Napa Fairgrounds. I personally haven't stayed there but know several who have and they really liked the park and the price.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the Napa Valley Expo mentioned above.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.napavalleyexpo.com/index.html