Today we had breakfast at a good restaurant for breakfasts, and got on the road. We cut across the mountains from Redding to the coast. First we went through Old Town Shasta and saw the ruins. Then we headed past Whiskeytown Lake as we began climbing through the pines. The day was clear and sunny, the air cool, the scenery gorgeous. We came upon two deer in the middle of the road; after a glance at us, they bounded up the steep rocky slope into the woods. We stopped at a country store and bought postcards. Soon thereafter, the whole aura of the forest changed. We were in redwoods, coming down the other side of the mountain. The ground was loamy, covered thickly in ferns. The trees stretched up, often enveloping us in shade.

On the other side, we stopped in the town of Ferndale for a late lunch. Ferndale is just too cute for words. The main street is all Victorian houses; even the buildings that are later period have Victorian touches so they blend in. It almost felt a little Stepford-ish, if it hadn’t been so damn pretty. We ate (a meatball sub for me and a sausage sub for Ken) and read local tourist newspapers, whereupon we discovered that there was a recommended detour that we decided we had to take. It was a road that actually went back south, but out to the ocean, and was supposedly just gorgeous. How could we refuse?

It was small, almost as narrow as some British lanes in places, and twisty. We wove our way up into the mountains, and when we crested them, we could see the ocean in the distance, past broad meadows and waving pines. We wove down and reached the shore—in fact, we got to the westernmost edge of the contiguous 48 states. We saw more deer and birds of prey (one of the things I _didn’t_ learn at the falconry course I took was how to identify the various birds in the sky). We went through narrow rows of impossibly tall, stately redwoods. It felt so primeval; I wouldn’t have been surprised to see dinosaurs, really.

Once we got through that, we were back on highway 101 and headed north. We stopped for supper at a seaside diner, where I had shrimp in a pesto cream sauce and Ken had cod with herb and lemon, and then continued on to Gold Bay and our motel for the night.

I discovered that I couldn’t log in, so even if I finished the antho story, I wouldn’t be able to send it (today’s the deadline). Well, phooh. But, I still plan to finish the story (probably this week), and we’ll see what happens with it after that.