Big Basin Redwoods

We're now parked in Morgan Hill, about an hour inland from Santa Cruz. Yesterday we took Ms. Subaru over the mountain on Rt. 152, through Watsonville and into Santa Cruz for her 15,000 tune-up and fluid check. We had some time to tour around while she was being worked on so we took a loaner out for some sightseeing.  First thing on the agenda was an ocean swim for Kona. After a few that weren't appropriate...

...we finally found the 21st Street Beach which did the job.  Then we took about an hours beautiful drive on Rt. 9 from Santa Cruz to a California State Park called Big Basin Redwoods.  According to the website, it is "home to the largest continuous stand of ancient coast redwoods south of San Francisco, the park consists of over 18,000 acres of old growth and recovering redwood forest, with mixed conifer, oaks, chaparral, and riparian habitats." 

You can see how you'd spend a lot of time looking up. It's hard to really get a sense of how huge these trees are in photographs.  Here's Rick standing inside one of these coastal redwoods:

Although they are not the biggest at the base (I think the giant sequoias are) they are some of the tallest.

This gives you a little sense of how it feels to stand amongst them.

The tallest ones here are about 380 feet tall. That's taller than the Statue of Liberty (289 ft.)!

This tree is called the Father of the Forest. There's a Mother of the Forest nearby too.  The whole experience of being with them is awesome. I'm looking forward to more visits to similar groves along the coast in Northern California.

So, Ms. Subaru is all checked out, and soon we'll be taking her for a trip into San Francisco.