We have to pick up speed to make a very important appointment soon. So we will only be at this stop at Bear River Casino on the California coast one day. We started that day in church this morning, followed by strawberry rhubarb cobbler in the fellowship hall with the other parishioners. We found out that one of the church members brings fresh cobbler every Sunday. Then we decided to take a Sunday drive on a little highway we saw on the map. It was a little foggy when we left on this little-known, little-traveled, little-maintained road.
We were soon in the woods and our road got more winding. 
From living on a ranch with land-locked cattle, it always makes us giggle to see cattle that are used to an ocean view.
Our main reason to take this narrow road is for a stop at this black sand beach we saw on the map. Obviously not a huge tourist destination, we were the only ones on the beach this afternoon.
This is truly a black sand beach.
The high tide had left some sea weed and ocean plants on the beach. Denisa thought it made an interesting combination of textures and colors on the beach today.
Did we mention that the wind was blowing around 40 miles per hour? While walking with the wind at our backs was easy, the trip back to the pickup meant getting sand-blasted as we struggled against the wind. For the length of the drive to get here, we didn't stay long at the black sand beach. But this was our last look at the Pacific Ocean for a very long time, so we tried to savor our time here.
Back in the pickup, we're trying to make this into a loop drive rather than driving back on the same road. We're not sure if that was a good decision, as the roads got even more crooked on the other side of our loop.
We were covered by an umbrella of trees as we went up one mountain and then back down another over and over. Almost no one lives on this road, but several times we drove by some curious-looking greenhouses with very tall and secure fences around them. We're pretty sure that this lonely stretch of road is a mecca for growing cannabis.
After three hours in the pickup riding through tunnels of trees, Denisa was getting pretty bored. It was a tough driving day for Mark going through all those hair-pin turns. We have learned our lesson--we won't take off on some random loop road without getting some recommendation that it is a scenic road to travel. We were ready to find the quickest way home, when we suddenly broke into this view.
The trees changed into majestic giants, and we finally had wandered into another of God's wonders!
We love the view up these 300-foot-tall trees! For their height, their leafy tops seem small because we can still see lots of sunshine through the forest canopy.
We can't see the details of the foliage that is 300 feet over our heads. But we can look at it closely on a sapling near the ground. Here's another fun fact about these giant trees: the seeds of the mighty redwood tree are only about the size of a grain of rice.
Our loop has taken us to the back door of Humboldt State Park, home to a beautiful grove of old growth redwoods. This grove includes the "Giant Tree," recognized by the American Forestry Association as the national champion Coast Redwood in November of 1991.
It's bark is a foot thick, and Mark can place his entire hand in the grooves of that bark.
When it was measured to become the champion, it was 363 feet tall and 53.2 feet in circumference. We think it has grown since then. Redwoods spend the first 100 years getting taller, and then the rest of their long lives getting thicker.
This forest also includes the Flatiron Tree, which toppled years ago. It grew an interestingly oblong trunk, and you can still see that shape from the root ball of this fallen tree.
This sign pointed us to "Tall Tree." Hello, we're in a giant redwood forest here. Every tree is a tall tree.
But we followed the arrows and did find the "Tall Tree." Denisa is standing at the base, and we never could get a picture that includes the very top of this very Tall Tree that is 359 feet (as of February 1957 when it was officially measured).
The reason that redwoods can live 1,000 years, is that they can survive forest fires and disease that would kill most trees. The base of the tree might be completely hollow from both of those natural phenomenon, and the top of the tree still be very healthy. After driving through Humboldt Redwood State Park, we turned onto the famed "Avenue of Giants" road. Home to some of the best redwood trees, we hiked through the Founder's Grove.
When trees do topple and die, they become a "nurse tree" for other plants and trees that start growing on their now horizontal trunks.
One of the reasons that these giant redwoods were never logged, is because the wood splits and cracks so easily on impact when they are cut. When something that tall falls to the ground, it usually breaks into pieces just big enough to make lots of pencils.
Obviously, a fire has raged through the Founder's Grove at some time. It's amazing that trees this burned can still survive!
This tree has been burned so badly that you can walk right through it. But that injured base can still support a living 300-foot tree with a healthy top.
We had been without a phone signal for most of this Looooong Sunday afternoon drive. But we needed to make another camping reservation. So when we noticed that we suddenly had a phone signal, we pulled off the road. That surprised a covey of quail that were feeding on the side of the road.
The birds ran for the cover of the tall grass. But the phone call was long enough that the bravest of the quail appeared again to eat.
Aren't the feathers beautiful on this handsome bird?!? From admiring the tallest living trees to the tiny feathers on the back of a little bird, we have been diversified on this very loooooong drive.
We were on the road for about 5 hours today, on a loooong Sunday drive through the woods while we hummed "This Land is Your Land."
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