My first comment is that this trip was amazing, but even if we made it in 4 days I highly recommend spending more times in Redwoods and Lassen Volcanic, especially if you are not accustomed to the road trips. These national parks and surrounding areas are very beautiful and deserve more time to be seen and enjoyed in full.
Stop 1: Pacific Coast Highway
We had a lot of energy on our first day and decided to quickly drive through Sonoma county to get to the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and drive along the coast to the North. Below are some random pics from the stops that we made on PCH.
Stop 2: Fort Bragg Glass Beach
In the past this place used to be a dump, but nature created something beautiful out of it.. This place is unique, but the most disturbing thing is that people who visit it collect and take glass with them. We saw people bringing buckets and plastic bags to grab as many glass pieces as possible. If you visit please leave that place untouched for other people to enjoy too.
This beach is located in the MacKerricher State Park, and if you walk a little further you'll see some beautiful landscapes.
Stop 3: Chandelier drive-thru tree
There are 3 drive-thru trees in Northern California: Chandelier, Shrine and Klamath. Even though these places are tourist traps (they are still fun for kids), we decided to visit one of them. After paying $5 and lining up for approximately half an hour we had a chance to get our picture. Driving thru this tree reminded me of driving narrow Spanish roads :)
Stop 4: Avenue of the Giants
Avenue of the Giants is a scenic 31 miles road going through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Founders Grove is the must stop place. Below are some pictures taken in that area, hubby for scale :)
Stop 5: Elk Prairie campground
This is now my favorite campground: spacious, private, in the woods, with hot water and fire rings. We arrived around 9pm and still had some sun light to settle our tent and make fire. Here are some pictures of the surrounding area (taken early in the morning):
