Day 6 was marked with a lot of driving. We rolled out of our spot on the highway 1 pull out and drove north, stopping in Mendocino. I really liked this town. It is a small, well kept, quintessential coastal town that sits right on a coastal state park. We spent some time wandering around the rocks there, and continued onward with Willie Nelson serenading us in the background.
The gorgeous Mendocino Headlands State Park
From there we stopped in Leggett, to do one of the famous drive through redwood trees. I rolled the dice and paid the $10 entrance fee. Sadly, the Van was just too tall to fit under it, but I got this picture to pretend like I did. Then we walked under it in order to get our money’s worth.
Fortunately Taylor stopped me before I crunched my roof in
Hey you punks! It says drive thru tree, not walk thru tree!
After that, we kept driving north to Fortuna, then cut toward The Lost Coast on a windy, poorly maintained road. The mist was thick as we crested and then dropped on a brake fade inducing downhill stretch to the coast. It was otherworldy and incredibly windy, but after that rough drive we had to get some satisfaction out of the detour. The beach is made up of tiny pebbles instead of sand, and was really fun to walk and play in. We hopped around on the rocks and watched the waves crash against the shoreline, then headed back so we could make it to Eureka by dark.
The mysterious and remote “Lost Coast”
In Eureka we stopped and used the wifi at a Starbucks and synced up on some stuff. We ate at Denny’s for dinner which was totally a mistake. It was so gross, but we both hadn’t been there since high school (you know those days, when you’d hang out there at 2am with friends) and wanted to partake in some nostalgia. We picked up a couple provisions from the local Walgreens and met a really nice couple via Van Alert and stayed in Eureka that evening.