Avenue of the Giants

The Avenue of the Giants is a beautiful road you can travel through Northern California, with all the tall gorgeous redwoods alongside. There are fun tourist things to do, such as the trees you can drive through, plus there's always a chance to see Bigfoot! And all it costs to see this is the gas to drive along the route.

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This is what most of the road looks like.



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As someone who grew up in the Los Angeles area, it was nice to finally see firsthand what a real forest looks like. I love the mountains in Los Angeles, but they're a lot scrubbier than this.



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This picture is through one of the old fallen trees in one of the little tourist areas alongside the road.



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Look at how incredibly LUSH this area is. Once again, this is RIGHT off the roadside, and you ordinarily need to hike to see forestry this gorgeous.



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Here's the road leading you off through the trees, so you can see even more grandeur.

The Cali/Oregon Coast

More photos from my trip along the coast in September 2018! Yes, I've been busy. There are Washington and Oregon photos at my Flickr account, but for the purposes of this blog I'm trying to narrow my trip shots to the California photos.

These are from along the coast around the area where Oregon and California meet. It's VERY hard to take a bad photo there! I highly recommend visiting, people will love your Insta photos! And the coast is free! More beautiful places to visit in California that cost nothing (except maybe gasoline.)

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While the whole area is gorgeous, there are several official overlooks that are particularly stunning.



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A morning shot of the land stretching off behind the ocean.



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The water really was this lovely.



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A hidden cove along the way. I'd love to live in this area and swim here when it's warmer.



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Some flowers blooming over the ocean.

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

Mission Soledad is part of California's fascinating historical chain of missions, originally built by the Spanish as they began European occupation of the state. It's another place that only asks for a suggested donation to see the place, although I do recommend you donate, since the missions are pricey to keep up because of their age, and it's historically important. We took a trip last September up to Seattle and back and of course I took too many photos. I'm hoping to show you a lot more of the state in the near future, but for the moment, the first place we visited as tourists was Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad.

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A proper establishing shot. It's one of the smaller missions in the chain.



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Like most of the mission chain, there was a lovely garden in bloom.



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Some of the numerous historical items you can see.



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One of the fountains had lotus blooming inside.



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Some of the old barbecue items in front of the beautiful valley it's situated in.



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Along a shaded porch.



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Another of the peaceful fountains in the stunning valley location.