Today we had a leisurely morning. It was misty/rainy and Mahru just needed some extra sleep. We hadn’t figured out how to create a real-size bed the first night in the Jucy so she was a little cramped up. We got it now! Every day we learn something new or perfect our packing system.

Once we hit the road, we went to a dog-friendly beach about 10 miles up the 1 called Ten Mile Beach––hmmm. Really, I think it is a 10-mile beach, but not all of it is dog-friendly. I was afraid it would be cold (I’m always afraid it will be cold) but it was perfect. The dunes blocked any breeze and the sun peeked out a few times. People had made tepees out of driftwood and there were several rock caves. The tide was out so we had plenty of walking room.

From there, we headed up 1. More windy, mountain roads, yay! We hooked up with 101 when 1 petered out, but it was still beautiful. Around 2:30ish we started getting peckish and decided to hit a state park for a picnic. Voila! We weren’t far out from Humbolt Redwoods State Park and the Avenue of the Giants. Perfect. We ate lunch at the visitor center picnic area surrounded by 2,000-year-old trees. Whenever you are feeling full of yourself, I recommend the grandiosity of nature. Old growth redwoods are a fine choice.

We only had about an hour and 20 minutes left to reach our final destination for the day: Patrick’s Point. No problem. We did have to go through Eureka, which we agreed sounded like a really cool place: Eureka! There’s gold in them thar hills, but turned out to be an anywhere USA, rundown, strip mall heaven. The best feature was Costco, where we stopped for much cheaper gas before heading north to Trinidad.