West Coast RV Trip - December 2024 - Redwoods

On December 27, we packed up the RV with Alice and headed West! Mark had a fever and was very sick with the flu, but he decided we would go anyway. We were not taking the RV without him, so he decided to push through. We went straight to Reno hoping to have good enough weather to cross Donner Pass. When we got to Reno there was a storm in the mountains and the pass required all vehicles to have chains. We decided to sleep the night in a parking lot in Reno and hope for a break in the storm in the morning. We got very lucky with a small pause in the storm and made it over the pass with no problems.

Mark drove straight on to the redwood forest. As soon as we found a quiet place for him to pull off the road he climbed into bed and napped. He needed it with his fever and chills and driving for two days. Poor Mark. 

While Mark slept, the rest of us explored the magnificent ancient redwood forest. 

I have never been to see the redwoods and truly my mind was blown. It felt like I was in a whole different world and I couldn't believe it was only a day's drive from home and I had never experienced it before. The beauty. The smell. The ancient life. Incredible.

After we explored the area for a bit, Mark was able to wake up and continue driving to see more. We visited the Founders Tree just as it got dark.

We found a place to stay for the night and enjoyed our cozy RV and some food while it rained outside.

The next morning we stopped at the ocean on our way to see more redwoods. The waves were pretty big!

Then on to see more redwoods. This was such a cool place. Because of some road closures from the big storms, we ended up at Prairie Creek Visitor's Center. We took some pictures near the visitor center with Mark and Alice and then they stayed there while the boys and I went on a hike. It ended up being one of the nicest hikes I have ever done. There were not many people because of the time of year and it was so beautiful!

Seeing these forests on this trip will forever be one of those special experiences that I will treasure forever.