Hittin' It Back East

This time last year I flew out to visit Kyle when he was still working at Beaver Creek to see a two-night Brother's Keeper run with Dean Ween and Glenn McClelland (the guitarist and pianist from Ween) at a local bar in Vail called Shakedown Bar. The season was ending so Kyle was off the hook as a lift operator and we drove back cross country to Florida together. It's crazy how almost exactly one year ago we were taking the same route back east... dreaded I-70. The midwest is a long stretch of flat prairie land, tumbleweeds, and fearing that you're going to get pulled over. We drove about 14 hours and reached Columbia, MO where we crashed for a few hours at Kyle's aunt and uncle's (our same halfway point last year also). We were rejuvenated enough to make it a bit past Pittsburg, another 13 hour stretch.

In the morning, we went to check out New Hope, PA, which was another 4 hours. New Hope, PA is the birthplace of my favorite band, Ween. If you haven't heard of them, get on it!! I had already visited this town before, but it's so cool that I wanted to show Kyle around. We checked out all my favorite stores, starting with God Save the Qweens, in case I spent too much money in what is known as "Ween's official merchandiser." They have old Ween shirts, random Ween odds-n-ends, and the store specializes in punk clothing and real Doc Marten's. The lady who owns the store, known as Punky, is super awesome and really good friends with Gener (lead singer of Ween). I got a Ween iPod skin, that is probably the last one in existence because it fits my out-of-issue iPod Classic. I got a couple Ween patches too. We wandered through Type B Tie Dye Studios, that is owned by a couple Deadheads. They are terrific tie dyers and you can even dye your own shirt instead of just buying one! We browsed in some more shops that I can't remember the names of, but the whole Main Street is a super awesome place to walk through. I love New Hope so much, it's a town with so much spunk. They have a theater called Buck's County Playhouse, that puts on shows right off Main Street. I'd love to see something there.

Delaware Canal State Park trail.

The Delaware Canal State Park has a trial that runs right through New Hope along the canal. There is just so much to do! We decided to walk across the Lamberville-New Hope Bridge, where you cross over the Delaware River and the state line into New Jersey! We walked to another state! While we were crossing over the bridge, you'll never guess who we saw... Mickey Melchiondo a.k.a Dean Ween himself, fishing!! Deaner's other passion is fishing and he even runs a charter business called Mickey's Guide Service. We got our beer and spectated from the river bank. Pretty soon, it was time to go John and Peter's, the famous local bar that Ween was playing at before they made it big. In addition to Ween, so many amazing artist have played and continue to play at this tiny, personal venue. The second we walked in we saw Guy Heller (singer in the Dean Ween Group and Moistboyz) and he shared some of his hot chocolate with us. Wednesday night is definitely the night to go to JnP's, because they put on something called The Invitational where so many talented musicians perform. Deaner and Guy Heller play pretty much every Wednesday. Someone from the Spin Doctor's got up and played too. The cool part is that ANYONE can get up there and play! You just tell someone in charge what instrument you play or if you sing good and they'll do their best to get ya up there. We met a really nice couple and the guy, Dan, who has two bands (a Grateful Dead cover band and an original project, The Bansai Bills), got up and did a song with 'em! It was literally so cool, I couldn't even believe it was real. The night just kept getting better when a friend, Juhll, we met at the Shakedown Bar shows I mentioned in the beginning of this post and then later randomly ran into him at another show in New Jersey, called the bar and ordered us a round of drinks!! That's Ween family right there and I can't get enough of it. Ween fans are the best friends you could ever have. The Invitational was out of this world and it certainly won't be the last I attend... If you haven't made it to New Hope yet, put it on your to-do list!

John and Peter's is such a tiny, personable place.

Giant half pipe at FDR.

We stopped by Philadelphia so Kyle could skate FDR for a little bit. We were sooooo hungover though that it didn't last long. We decided to just hit it to Berlin, MD (Kyle's hometown), where we would be visiting family and friends. The couple days here were spent eatin' good, celebrating, and catching up with loved ones. On our first night, Kyle's mom, Gussie, treated us to a crab feast at Crab Alley's. I'm new with blue crabs, so I am slow picker, but I love the social aspect of it. It's less about eating and more about chatting when you have to work for that crab meat! Our friends, Devin and Summer, came too and I left with Summer so we could have a slumber party. It's the first night Kyle and I have been apart in a looooong time and it was... horrible!!!!! Just kidding, I think we both survived just fine. It was good to have a girl's night and catch up with my best friend. I'm sure Kyle felt the same way. The next day, we went and skated at Ocean Pines Skatepark. When we walked up some local kids ran up to Kyle calling him "fifty fifty dude..." he's literally famous to them. It's precious. Last time we were here, I was just starting to get roll-ins and this time I was dropping in the big bowl! It was super fun and I worked on pumping around the pockets. We went to Blacksmith Berlin for dinner, which is where I waitressed last summer. The chef/owner, Justine, who is also Kyle's neighbor, knows what she is doing when it comes to running a restaurant. She has opened another successful business in Rehoboth Beach called Planet X Cafe. The thing that makes Justine's food stand out (other than her amazingly creative dishes) is that she sources all her food locally. There is a chalkboard in the restaurant that lists where she got all her ingredients from the meat to the bread to the dairy products. It's hard to find a restaurant these days where you actually KNOW where your food is coming from. If you go to Blacksmith, you're in luck because Summer is a waitress there!! She's the best server around, but ya better tip her good. ;) Later we went to Berlin's local craft brewery, Burley Oak. All the beers have funny names like "Just The Tip" or "Afternoon Delight." Burley Oak has such a cool atmosphere: they've got the ring game, board games, a vinyl night, and tons of good live musicians playing. We went to check out a band called the Pete Bozick Trio, who were doing covers of Dave Brubeck and Herbie Hancock. It was freaking awesome!! Saturday morning we went into Ocean City to make our rounds saying hello to everyone. We ate lunch at Malia's Cafe, which is owned by one of Kyle's friend's parents. We went on the right day because we saw everybody!! It was poppin' and the sandwiches we got were to die for. Malia's is super colorful, with a Hawaiian vibe... definitely a great lunch spot. The tropical decor gets you in the mood to go to beach and you're in luck because the ocean's right there! We stopped by Layton's on 92nd Street, where Kyle has worked for the past 6 summers. Everyone there is like family, they even know me after I spent a summer stopping in to say hello to Kyle while he was working. This place is always packed 'cause the breakfast is so good, so we just said a quick hello to everyone and let them get back to work.

We went to say hello to our friend, Tron, who started a skate company called Get Gnarly. Get Gnarly's the only skate shop in Ocean City. Tron hooked Kyle up with a board for a great price, just like he always does. Tron is the nicest dude and has the coolest gear in his shop. All his boards and t-shirts have such genius stuff printed on them. If you're in the area and you like to skate, go support this awesome local company! On the way out, we stopped by Kyle's MiMu and PopPop's to visit for a little. His MiMu has been keeping up with blog and was delighted that we stopped by. Back in Berlin, they were gearing up for the one year anniversary celebration of America's Coolest Small Town.

Main Street partyin' to Kelly Bell Band.

Last year on April 18th, Berlin was voted America's Coolest Small Town, so to keep up the camaraderie they are going to have a celebration every year. Berlin really does deserve this title, too. I have fallen in love with this town. Everything from the people to the small town vibes are on point. It's truly a community. They have events like bath tub racing and art strolls. You don't find that stuff in every town, that's for sure. April 18th is also Kyle's sister, Shannon's birthday! So we were celebrating many things at once. They closed off Main Street and had a band come from Baltimore called the Kelly Bell Band. They were super funky. After all the festivities ended, we had a fire in Kyle's magical backyard with the Washington Street gang + more. It was a perfect way to end our stay.

First ping pong game of the spring! It's party time on Washington Street. 

Squeezing in Oregon and Colorado

We left the Redwoods mid-afternoon and made it to Eugene, Oregon where we spent the night on a random street. As we were scoping out a place, we pulled into a gas station to regroup and a cop followed us and turned on his flashers... apparently Kyle didn't use his blinker for long enough and that was a "sign of impairment." Other than hassling us in the first place by pulling us over, he let it go and didn't mess with us. So far that's been our only run-in with the cops and I hope it stays that way.

Multnomah Falls

We got up early and made it to Hood River, Oregon. Right before Hood River, we passed Multnomah Falls (a 611 footer). It's right off I-84 and super easy to walk to, definitely worth stopping. The white arch bridge, which divides the first fall from the second smaller fall is a beautiful frame for this incredibly green view. It was lunch time when we got to Hood River so we got sammies at this coffee shop called Doppio Coffee + Lounge. The sandwiches were super fresh and had sprouts and other delicious, healthy toppings. Even though we were downtown and there were tons of cute stores to browse through, we left to go to Rotary Skatepark. Now this is DEFINITELY the coolest skatepark we've been too. I forgot to take a picture, but I've got a good skate-through video I plan on using in my road trip recap video.  There are a ton of features that incorporate natural things like a gap over a small creek. There's a super deep bowl, as well as a smaller bowl that I really was doing a good job pumping in. There's a pretty big street section. There are no posted rules at this skatepark, which is cool. There are permanent bathrooms, a water fountain, a playground area, and a bike path the leads to the skatepark. There is even a disc golf course across the street. We stayed all afternoon and it never was very busy. I'm pretty sure some guy did break his ankle while we were there. We cooked some dinner right on the back of our tailgate near on the street by the park (Wasco Street, I believe it was called). Last time Kyle was here, he said they slept on this street and it was straight. We met some other guys who were on a trip and had a camper top on their truck. We sat around a grill in the skatepark once it got dark and no one ever bothered us. Hardly any cars even passed. We had the grill up by the deep bowl and I don't even think you could see it from the road. Our plan was to skate again in the morning, but it was raining. We were due for an oil change so we ended up getting it at Oil Can Henry's again, the same place we got one in Arizona.

A narrow, rocky section on the Eagle Creek Trail.

Once we got all that taken care of, we went an hike a portion of the Eagle Creek Trail. We walked to Punchbowl Falls (35 ft.), which was about a 4 mile roundtrip hike that twisted narrowly along a rocky cliff edge. There were beautiful views of the river in the gorge below and you could see on the opposite bank where the water levels had once been and carved grooves into the mountainside. Before you get to Punchbowl Falls, you will pass a small spur trail about 1.5 miles in which leads to an overlook of Metlako Falls (100 ft.). Although there were no jumping signs, we jumped from a cliff next to Lower Punchbowl Falls (15 ft.). There are three points to jump off, the smallest one has a rope swing and the tallest one you have to jump off a boulder. The highest jump was covered in moss, making it too slippery to jump. We donned our wetsuits and plunged into the icy water below. This area was so lush. Everything was green and moist. Kyle said there was way more water rushing over the falls than last time. It's weird how California is in a drought and Oregon seems to have plenty of water. Everything is impossibly green! Punchbowl Falls gets its name because the rushing water has carved a bowl-like shape into the earth. Geologist now used the term "punchbowl" to describe other waterfalls that have a similar shape. However, Lower Punchbowl Falls is not a punchbowl type waterfall they just couldn't think of anything original to name it I guess. Since we were distracted with cliff jumping, we didn't walk up to the Punchbowl Falls overlook, but I definitely recommend checking that out. It gives a better view of the punchbowl shape. The Eagle Creek Trail goes way farther than what we did and there are more waterfalls along the trail. Oregon was one of my favorite stops, it was so beautiful! I recommend especially coming to Hood River, there are so many things to do around here from hikes to kite surfing to skating to disc golfing!

Metlako Falls

Lower Punchbowl Falls, we jumped off to the right. 

This picture is so surreal I can't even believe my eyes!! This is a view of Punchbowl Falls.

Party Polaroid at The Oasis.

When we got back to the start of the trail, we set out for Durango, Colorado to visit Spencer. We weren't planning on crushing the whole drive, but we ended up just getting those long 16 hours out of the way. What a freakin' drive... I must give Kyle mad props for this whole trip: he has driven literally 99% of it. We left around 3:00pm, around 1:00am I started to get to uncomfortable. I had been in and out of sleep for the last couple hours so I actually slept in the back of the truck for a bit while Kyle kept driving. I was kind of skeptical at first but caved because I needed to lay flat so bad. At around 7 in the morning, I took over because Kyle needed a rest. I lucked out and got the prettiest part of the drive. I passed THREE national parks on this drive: Arches, Canyonlands, and Mesa Verde. It was so hard to drive through Utah without stopping. :( Our original plan was to stop in Utah, but we just plumb ran out of time. Guess we gotta plan another road trip... It was such a relief when we finally arrived at Spencer's. He has the cutest little house in Durango that is known as "the Oasis," because young people have always lived there and partied and it has an awesome yard with a fire pit and like 27 trees. We unwound for a bit and then went to the skatepark at Schneider Park. This is a beautiful park area that has so much to offer other than just skating: fishing, a river tail, river access for kayaks, restrooms, a picnic area, and a playground. The skatepark is kind of small. It has a big bowl and a smaller one that I think was designed suuuuper weird. I didn't like it and the other bowl was too big for me. There's a street section as well. I messed around for a bit, but that small bowl was super wonky so I mainly watched the boys. Spencer had his crew out there and all the guys were pumping each other up. That's the best skate session I've watched on this trip so far. One of Spencer's friend, Luke, is starting a company/brand called Undiscovered Species. He screen prints shirts and does a ton of filming. He got a lot of cool stuff on film at the park and is hopefully making a video soon with the footage, so check out his Youtube Channel!! It was mid-afternoon when we decided to go back and start drankin'. We had a really fun party that night and we grilled out and just had a feast! In the morning, we tried to find this waterfall that Spencer's roommate told us about but we came out empty-handed.

Stacking Stones on the Colorado Trail.

Instead, we just hiked a bit of the Colorado Trail, which actually begins right here in Durango and ends 500 miles later in Denver. The section we did hugged a river bank, where there were many stones stacks. We walked to a large exposed granite wall and climbed up as high as we could. It was so steep at one point Spencer and I slipped out and slid down on our butts!! We went out to dinner at the Himalayan Kitchen, which was downtown and close enough to walk to from Spencer's. This place was awesome and the owner was super helpful and answered all our questions about the foods we hadn't heard of. We asked about this spice and she actually brought out a little dish of it and explained it's health benefits. It was a dank meal.

Meeting puppies in liquor stores in Colorado!

The only fish of the day, Kyle's brown trout.

Family fishin'.

Although I felt like there was so much more to explore around Durango, we had to get to Gunnison to visit my brother, Dylan, who moved out almost a year ago now. We took a route that was a little bit out of our way so we could stop by Telluride. It was just a town we wanted to check out as a potential spot to live in the fall. We passed by a town called Rico, which has free natural hot springs. The hot springs were super easy to find except it was like 2 in the afternoon and the only person out there was a naked old dude, so we weren't really feeling it. Definitely a place to go at night... Telluride was a cool little town that had chair lifts right downtown! It was hard to tell what it would be like during the on-season because it was pretty dead at this time of the year. We didn't stay too long and should have explored more, but we had places to be. My brother loooooves to fly fish and he came to the right spot. On Saturday, Dylan took us to the Saguache Creek (pronounced "swatch") to learn to cast. We donned all our gear, which included waders, a wading belt, felt-bottom boots, our rods, and tons of bugs (that's what they called their lures). We looked professional. The Saguache Creek was a good place to learn because there wasn't too much stuff to get hung up on. By the end of the day, we had gotten comfortable with the basic cast. Kyle even caught a small brown trout, only about 6 inches maybe but it was the only thing anybody caught all day. The next day, we went to a spot on the Taylor River and learned how to roll cast. Dylan caught a 2 pound rainbow trout right off the bat. He knows where they are waiting. My brother never eats the fish and knows how to remove the hook without injuring the fish. He always wets his hands before he holds the fish and uses a rubber net to avoid stripping it's scales. He tries to keep the fish in the water as much as possible so it doesn't get stressed out. He gets his prize picture quick and then releases the fish. That's trout conservation 101 for ya. Dylan's roommate, who is an equally skilled fly fisherman, came with us. He is a guide at a local fly shop called Gunnison River Fly Shop, so it was an awesome experience to go out with them both. We bought all our bugs from the Gunnison River Fly Shop and they let me borrow some felt-bottomed boots for free because they know Dylan so well. They're really nice and knowledgable about what bugs are hatching and what the fish are biting. Both days were long days spent on the river, trying to catch some fish. By the end our stay, I say we feel pretty comfortable casting and could probably do it on our own. We still need to learn how to set up the rod and reel and do all the knots though, but it's exciting to learn something new!

Dylan's big catch.

We're cutting across... all the way back east. Skipping the mid-west, cruising on I-70 till we get to Pennsylvania and then we've got a couple stops before we head south!

The Last Stretch of Cali

One of the many lakes tucked away in the mountains around Tahoe. 

Husky lovin' on Maddox. 

We got a late start leaving San Francisco, heading towards Lake Tahoe. On the way there, Kyle wanted to hit up a skatepark he'd been to before in Placerville. We skated for a bit at Joe's Skatepark. If you're ever in the area around Halloween, there is a festival hosted by Railroad Earth called the Hangtown Halloween Ball. You can skate while music is going on!! In this same park, there is plenty of green space and also a car racetrack. Quite an odd conglomeration of activities... We made it to Tahoe kind of late so we chilled at Kyle's friend, Angel's house. He has a Siberian Husky, Maddox. This is the first time I've gotten to play with one since I gave Salty away! Maddox is just like Salty too. It made my heart smile. The next day was spent by me running errands (my social security card got stolen in SF) and Kyle skating at the South Lake Tahoe Skatepark, which is in a great location right across from the community college. We met up with one of my friends, Emily, who has been living in the area and she took us on an awesome hike. Everybody knows about Lake Tahoe, because the city is named after this lake, but did you know there are many other small lakes tucked away in the mountain ranges?! I didn't... We did the Eagle Falls Trail, which leads to a waterfall and a hidden lake. Our plan was to rent kayaks in the afternoon, but it was so windy we decided to embark on a culinary mission: making herb infused coconut oil. The project turned out wonderfully. We've got the best massage and cooking oil around now. Kyle and I were kind of scoping Tahoe out as a place to live in the fall, but after visiting we're not sure if it's the right place for us. The ski season wasn't too great this year and we really want to ride a lot. I think Tahoe is definitely somewhere I'd rather spend the summer, because there are soooo many hikes around the area. It would be nice to get to take a dip in some of the lakes during the heat of the summer. Our last stop before we headed out was a coffee shop called Alpina Coffee, which was cozy and affordable. We got our Starbucks usual, large White Mocha, and two bagels for like the same price we pay at Starbucks. I love local joints like this!

South Lake Tahoe Skatepark

Sequoia seat!

The fam at Yosemite!

Our next stop was Yosemite, where we got to meet up with Gussie and Tommy for a birthday celebration!! They stayed at a swanky resort called the Evergreen Lodge, which has all the amenities. There is a bar on site, where we ordered many of their specials (a few compliments of Kyle's neighbors who sent Gussie a gift card). There is a pool and hot tub, where we soaked for many hours. There is a zip line, which we all rode even if we were too big. There is an activities desk with the best tours of Yosemite available and the best tour guides. There are games everywhere: ping pong tables, shuffle board, connect four, pool. This resort is seriously tucked away in Yosemite. To get to the lodge, you have to drive down an extremely long and bumpy road, but it's all worth it when you pass "boob rock" or the "yosemi-tittie," which is a rock that is breast-like and the nipple has been spray-painted pink. Truly a landmark you don't want to miss. Along this road you will also notice severe devastation from the Rim Fire, which broke out in 2013. The official story is that the Rim Fire was started by a hunter, but there are conspiracy theories. It burned 257,000 acres! The Evergreen Lodge probably would have burned down, but they had 200 firefighters standing the perimeter! Gussie treated us to a guided hike and it turned out to be spectacular. We saw everything worth seeing at Yosemite. Our guide's name was Bethany Kindiger (you can read about her and the other guides that work at the Evergreen Lodge here) and I highly recommend her. She was very knowledgable about everything Yosemite. She taught us the difference between Sugar Pine and Sequoia pinecones. The Sugar Pinecones are the huge ones and the Sequoias are rather small. The only other thing that can help you understand the sheer size of the Sequoias is seeing one that has fallen over! In Mariposa Grove, there is a fallen tree known as the Fallen Giant, that you can walk through. There was another dead Sequoia along the trail that had been carved through to make a tunnel for the old wagons. There were engravings on the tree from the 1900s! Bethany took us to a secret lunch stop (you have to take a tour with her to go), which had ancient native american grinding stones where their staple food, black oak acorns, was ground into flour. We saw two waterfalls on the tour: Bridalveil Falls (620 ft.) and Yosemite Falls (2,425 ft.). Bridalveil Falls deserves its name because it looks like a veil blowing over the edge. Yosemite Falls are incredibly immense. Bethany taught us a trick where if you stare at the waterfall in one spot and then look at the rock, the rock squiggles. It was a super trippy optical illusion. That Bethany... she knows her stuff. She even took us to a natural spring, Fern Spring, where we all filled our water bottles up. That was something we definitely would have missed without Bethany, it's pretty much just right off the side of the road. Bethany took us to some amazing overlooks of El Capitan and Half Dome. El Capitan is the largest exposed piece of granite in the world! The tour ended around dinnertime. We grabbed some food at the Evergreen Lodge's restaurant and soaked in the hot tub. It was a great day!

Yosemi-tittie.

Official members of L.E.S (League of Extraordinary Slurpers).

From Yosemite, we headed straight to Sebastopol, CA where Les Claypool of Primus owns a winery called Claypool Cellars. We had a tasting booked for 3:00pm and we got there riiiiight on time. The tasting room is in a train car and is filled with Primus art work. Our wine connoisseur, Cinnamon, was very knowledgable about all the wines. She hooked us up with some stickers, some salted caramels, and a Primus and the Chocolate Factory CD. We bought three bottles of wine, a pinot noir and two roses. We ended up loving the town of Sebastopol! It seems like a lovely place, centered around community. We lucked out because there was a skatepark super close to Claypool Cellars. We spent the rest of the evening at Laguna Skategarden, which is a unique combination of a skatepark and a community garden. There was a bird bath bowl perfect for me and I started to understand pumping in a bowl for the first time. Kyle was in heaven and unfortunately ended the session with a popped knee. The park had two bowls, a bunch of side rails, a rainbow rail, and a bunch of DIY gaps that were made from concrete stepping stones. The best part is that if you live here, after you skate you can go work in your plot in the community garden! This park also has a wall that you are allowed to paint on to encourage creative expression. Quite a hip little town... We treated ourselves to a sushi dinner at Sushi Tozai and I think it was the best sushi I've had in awhile. We got this roll that was baked and it was to die for!! Highly recommend this restaurant. On the way there, we drove down the oddest little street called Florence Avenue, which essentially was a sculpture garden of Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent's work. These sculptors use recycled items and make larger-than-life sculptures. Turning down this street will certainly make you feel like you wandered into another world because every single yard boasts one of these quirky works of art. We parked the truck on Morris Street for the night, which was a nice dark street without much traffic.

A diner dash waitress sculpture on Florence Avenue. 

The Skategarden at Sebastopol. 

Glass Beach (Fort Bragg, CA)

Redwoods National Park was our next destination, but we didn't make it all the way. We had to stop by this seaside town I read about online called Fort Bragg, which has beaches entirely made out of sea glass! That's heaven to me! We found Glass Beach easily, except there were no trespassing gates around the beach. That wasn't stopping anybody: there were at least 10+ people on the beach and good for us!! The beach was a dream come true, except the beaches origins are not too glamorous. Apparently, this area was once used as a dump. Sad, but at least they've cleaned it up and it's left this treasure trove for us all!! To sleep, we stopped in Ferndale, CA at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds where tent camping and RVs are welcome. For tents, it's only $10 a night and they have hot showers. It was a deal to me! I don't think you can have campfires, but they have grills and picnic tables. If you are road tripping in the area and in desperate need of a shower, they cost $3 if you aren't camping here. I thought that was pretty cool, because it's not always easy to find a place to bathe.

Fern Canyon, site of Jurassic Park 2.

We left early in the morning because we had two short hikes we wanted to do in the Redwoods. The first one we did led to Fern Canyon, which was used in Jurassic Park 2, so you know it's gotta be lush! As it's name depicts, this canyon's walls are completely covered in ferns. The best time to visit is probably in the summer because I don't think it had reached it's green potential at this time in April. Still an incredible walk either way and on the road out we saw tons of elk! I have never seen elk in the wild, I do believe. The second hike we did was called the Tall Trees Trail which leads to the Tall Trees Grove, which boasts some of the world's tallest trees. Getting to the Tall Trees Trailhead is somewhat of a hassle, but so worth all the extra work! First, you have to obtain a permit with a gate combination from the Kuchel Visitor Center. They limit the amount of foot traffic on this trail, which means it's pristine and never overcrowded. On the way to the trailhead, you pass another popular trail, the Lady Bird Johnson Trail. We were especially glad we went and got the permit to hike the Tall Trees Trail when we saw that the Lady Bird's parking lot was packed. Once we got through the gate, it was a 7 mile drive down a winding, one lane gravel road. We got even more excited when we got to the trailhead and we were the only car out there. The combination of the fact that it was a rainy Easter Sunday might have attributed to the fact that we were the only ones out there, but I think the Tall Trees Trail is a safe bet if you're not in the mood to share the trail. You walk down the trail a little more than a mile before you reach the grove and then you walk a mile loop that wraps around some GIANT trees. There is one part of the loop that hugs the bank of a river and all the trees were covered in a thick green moss. It looked unreal. There are also holes in the trees that are big enough to sit in. We had a picnic in one!! I highly recommend this trail. At only 4 miles, it's a great day hike and shows you everything you expect to see in the Redwood National Forest.

Ain't nothing but a G thing. 

Unfortunately, our time is dwindling and we have to cut out some of our planned stops from our road trip. :( Next is Hood River, OR though!! Then we'll see what else we have time for...