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Location Date North America 
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Location Date California Oregon
Washington -
Location Date Florence
Hood River
Discovered those decapitated windmills were actually water towers! We started Thursday by visiting a pygmy forest in the Van Damme State Park. Very acid soil stunts the growth of the trees. The California Rhododendron grow 5 times taller in the Redwood forests. Then on up the coast, pausing to admire 'Seaside Beach'.
We drove along the Avenue of the Giants (22 miles of Redwoods), picnicing at the roadside. Further on, at the southern edge of the Redwood National Park I found some elk and an excited man who had been looking for them for days. He explained the multiple stomachs of the elk to me and welcomed me to America several times. He had been English several generations ago, he said!
The historic Requa Inn was just amazing! We ate 'family style'. The meal had about ten courses... concluding with wild blackberry sorbet, kumquat marmalade and a cookie flavoured with wild California Bay. One of our fellow diners was a nuclear safety engineer and Malcolm enjoyed talking to him about the power industry. This meal was made even more memorable by the black bear on the far river bank!
On Friday morning we drove up to the headland above the Klamath River mouth and saw 6 grey whales (3 mums and 3 calves according to a friendly lady ranger). We went on to the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and walked a trail among the Redwoods. Encountered a banana slug, which can get to nearly a foot long!
On into beautiful Oregon with amazing rock stacks. Now at Florence. Not on the Arno but the Suislaw River!
- comments
Tina Great to read your blog - thank you for sorting it out. We're just back from Hungary which was great too, but in a different way! More architecture, less wildlife, although we did see the odd bird of prey in the countryside where we went wine tasting too! Ate lots of fish too. Budapest was wonderful, and food and drink were a big part of the holiday! It's like Vienna for cakes!
Fiona The wildlife sounds wonderful; you have seen a huge variety already. We're just back from a very wet week away in Bristol/Somerset/Cheltenham. We spent a lot of time in cathedrals/abbeys/churches avoiding the rain! Look forward to reading more blog.
Susan So even the slugs are bigger in the USA? It sounds like you have been really lucky with your animal sightings so far. I hope the rest of your trip is as good and look forward to seeing more photos.