Headed out of San Fran (note: Judy continues with her west coast lingo calling it San Fran & Cali) to begin our northern route back to NJ. Northern California is filled with surprises. Natural beauty abounds, Napa and Sonoma are "cool," but there is also plenty of quirky. Began by spotting this truck, no doubt on its way from Gilroy, CA, the "Garlic Capital of the World."
Then, just outside Happy Camp, California, we ran into the Bigfoot Museum. Wanna know more about the famous Sasquatch? Click here for the best of Jack Link's Beef Jerky commercials we, uhhhh, never see on TV in New Jersey.
Kept traveling the route, following signs like this...
Wanted to drive "Surreal" (our van) through a Redwood, but we were TOO FAT!!
Made a sightseeing stop at Fort Ross, what Mark called the "most boring" stop on our trip. [Mark's correction: "The most boring stop of any of our trips, which includes visiting countless cemeteries around the globe!!"] Okay so this one fits into the quirky. Not a MAJOR history detour, but Fort Ross was established by the Russians who landed in California back in 1812. The fort stayed in Russian hands for nearly 30 years, when the seal and otter population could no longer keep up with its hunters, so the Russians sold the fort to western entrepreneur John Sutter (you know him from Sutter's Mill).
Check out the unique Russian architecture of the fort...
Including a small Russian Orthodox chapel, protected by cannons shlepped there all the way from St. Petersburg (Russia, not your hometown, Egg).
Bored? Let's play "Where's Mark?" Can you find which bench he is sleeping on now? (This is a water well, btw)
Ever wonder how the Russians tell their version of what it must have been like to own a piece of California? Check out this rent-worthy trailer for the film Форт-Росс (Fort Ross), a combination of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Back to the Future.
Left the fort and headed further north. Had to exit to check out the town of Weed. A buzz kill to find out it was founded back in 1897 by westward pioneer Albert Weed.
Stopped in Fortuna, where we ran into an even cooler van than ours.
Read the little pink sign (below), and note the stack of bikes hooked to the back. So cool.
Ended our stay in California at beautiful and majestic Mount Shasta,"where heaven and earth meet."
And yeah, we've had enough of California.
Comments