If you get a chance to visit California there are many beautiful sights to see. One I think is a must see are the coastal redwoods. I was born in San Francisco which is in Northern California. I met my husband there while we were both in college. I was at University of California San Francisco in the Nursing School and he was at Hastings Law School. Hastings is also part of the University of California.
In those dating days we enjoyed all the beautiful surroundings available in the San Francisco Bay area. From the beautiful city itself and all the great restaurants to the beautiful wine country that was not a far drive from The City. When you live around San Francisco you always refer to it as The City.
One area we visited was north of The City, the beautiful coastal redwood forests. There is a new freeway running up there now. But the original highway is still there as well. It is called The Avenue of the Giants. These trees are so awe-inspiring. They are some of the oldest trees on earth. When you drive past them you get a sense of being in a prehistoric forest. The height and width of the trees dwarf you as if you are in the presence of gigantic dinosaurs.
The trees are fire and bug resistant. The last time we made the trip to see them was on our 30th wedding anniversary. A forest ranger told us a sad fact. That the only thing the trees were vulnerable to was the wind that has been created by the new freeway that was built near them. It creates some kind of wind corridor. It is blowing some of them over.
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush 
Oh my gosh. That’s sad about the wind situation. Man does some crazy things. We are bad for the environment. I love those old redwoods as well.
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Isn’t it crazy though. How a freeway can be bad for the trees after they have survived, some for over 3000 years, we can knock them down. Looking at my old photos I want to go back there again. 🙂
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I was thinking Muir Woods, but that’s on the other side of the mountains from the freeway, isn’t it?
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Muir Woods is very close to San Francisco in Marin County. There are smaller groves there I believe. But since you a living up there, I think it is worth a trip up there. Especially if the weather is still nice. There are several groves and the Highway of the Giants goes along through them. Garberville is near the Redwoods. There are so many places to stay up there and near there. Mendocino is not too far either.
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I have been to Muir Woods (and Mt. Tam) a number of times and I love them both (the view of San Francisco and the whole Bay Area from Mt. Tam on a clear day is spectacular). But I don’tt hink I’ve been to The Avenue of the Giants. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks.
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Beautiful pictures, Deborah! I am happy to learn you’re from San Francisco, my preferred city in the US.
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I have heard from others as well that San Francisco is very much like a European city. I am prejudiced because it is where I am from. It has changed quite a bit since we moved south. So I am not familiar with all the new restaurants. We do get up there about once a year. My daughter is living across the bay and my older brother lives near there as well.
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It’s true. It really looks like. I lived there for a short while in 96 and regretted many times to not have changed not used working with the same firm.
People there had also a different attitude than the easterners have. But that was a long time ago.
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A little bit of history: In past years women in San Francisco did not go downtown without a hat,gloves and dressed up. When my daughter was in college we would go up north several times a year. I noticed how sophisticated the young women looked downtown in the Financial District. They looked so sharp with great hair and clothes. LA can be more casual. Although there is more of the big hair and plastic surgery down here.
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How interesting! I didn’t know that. Is that stil the case today?
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Women don’t wear hats and gloves to go downtown but I think they are still pretty sharp dressers in the Financial District. But I have not been able to see for myself recently. Now this makes me want to get up there and look. We are planning a trip to the SF Bay Area this Christmas season. If I get near downtown I will report back. 🙂
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Great. Looking forward to hearing back from you!
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That is a place I’ve always wanted to go, just because of the redwoods alone. I’m not a ‘tree hugger’, but I sure do love trees! Those are amazing! It’s sad that they had to build a highway through them. I’ve never understood why people can’t just let nature be. Sure, we need highways and the US is experiencing growth, but nature is what makes these areas so beautiful.
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The freeway that is damaging the trees is near them but not going through them. That is the old two lane highway that goes through them and does not cause damage. But you should go to see them if you can! There are so many places in the United States I would like to see as well. Hopefully I will see some of them.
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Okay, that’s a little better then. Still, it’s sad that the trees are being harmed because of the new one. My mother and I are actually planning a trip to the west coast this upcoming summer, so hopefully we’ll see them then.
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I got to see San Francisco for the first time this summer (thanks to my dancing daughter, who was attending a summer ballet intensive there): we saw redwoods in Muir Woods but must have missed the Avenue of the Giants — a hazard of being tourists and not knowing quite what we were doing. I enjoyed your photos very much, Deborah.
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Well glad you got to see San Francisco. How did you like it? Did you go across the Golden Gate bridge? The Avenue of the Giants is a bit of a trip up North of San Francisco a little over 200 miles to Garberville. Probably a good idea to plan to stay over night somewhere near there. But there is so much beauty to see all around that area. Mendocino is not too far for another place to stop.
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I loved it! We stayed not far from the SF Zoo and rented a car so we could visit Muir Woods more easily. We did typical touristy things like taking pix of Lombard St. and eating lunch in Chinatown; I had thought of doing posts about our trip but got derailed by these blogging courses. We were there for 4th of July, and it was so cold–now we have 2 SF sweatshirts, a fleece jacket, and a blanket to help us remember that 4th of July. Such a great trip!
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Forgot about your Golden Gate bridge question: yes, we did, and we took lots of pictures from the overlooks on the other side. But we never drove on the Bay Bridge. The last day, we didn’t have a car and took public transportation, which took a lot longer.
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Stunning! But isn’t it awful about the wind? Man can be quite destructive, I’m afraid. xxx
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Thank you Anna. I think it was a case of unintended consequences but yes. I will have to research and see how the trees are doing with the drought and all. xoxo
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I loved your photographs and post. My grandparents took a trip out west in the 1970’s and visited one of the Redwood Forest parks. As a child, I remember looking through a box of photographs of their trip. Those trees are so amazing; I’m sad to hear about the freeway. Thank you for sharing.
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Thank You for the kind comment. I don’t want people to think the trees are all damaged but they are being stressed.
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Lovely photos, Deborah. I wish I could see the Redwoods with my own two eyes.
Wind from man’s highways and idiots with big saws, apparently. I wrote this a bit back after seeing an aggravating report on the NBC Nightly News.
http://markbialczak.com/2014/05/20/theyre-ruining-the-redwoods-for-a-thousand-bucks/
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This is why I am glad I don’t watch the nightly news. 😦 Terrible!! I liked your post about it but what next with these crazy people? How sad. I hope the rangers and fellow citizens who may be witnessing this are able to get a handle on it. I will have to research this now as well. Thanks for coming by and commenting Mark.
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When I saw this on the news my heart sank. Maybe they were able to stop the creeps. I hope so, Deborah.
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Me too!!!! Thanks for your support today. I feel a bit beaten up. I guess we’re not supposed to have a opinion that is not pleasing to some of these guys.
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He is hair-trigger about the power blogger label and defends his turf like that. I am used to OM and I like him but I tell him the way I feel.
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I think I feel beat up by all the negative comments toward me as well.
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They weren’t against you. They were against a principle that you stated. Thick skin, Deborah. You can take it. 🙂
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Sounds lovely, and the photos are beautiful; it’s sad to know, though, about the freeway wind issue. I never would have thought of that as a problem caused by a freeway. Wow, our actions have so many consequences, more than we realize…
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Yes. That’s true. Thanks for coming by and commenting and your kind words about the photos.
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Gorgeous pictures! It breaks my heart to hear that the freeway wind is blowing some of the trees over. 😦
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Thank You. I know. I want to follow up with my research to find out how they are faring.
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