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CAN WE GET OUT OF TOWN? - long needed trip away from the city |
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(Travel Dates: May 1999)
Inessa's dream had finally come true. We packed to go camping to Redwoods in the Northern part of California and Oregon. Inessa, Dmitry, and I decided to leave Friday night after we get off work and drive all night. Smart idea considering the fact I was the only one driving! First, we had to get all the stuff for camping. Because we are poor college students, almost all of our camping gear came as a courtesy of our host-families. However, Dmitry managed to forget the tent, so we had to backtrack losing 1/2 hour. Finally, we took off and headed up North on I-5 through the night towards Oregon.
Driving to our campsite - lots of Mountain Dew and Red Bull to kept me awake! Finally, we stoped in one of the campgrounds on the banks of Patrick River, not far from Crescent City. We were lucky because that campground was suppose to be closed. However, the ground keeper arrived there 2 weeks earlier and opened it. We were the only campers there, it was so great: nobody around, few cars driving by, sound of the river down the hill.
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The river was a cold mountain river, but the sound of running water and fresh air quickly put us to sleep. After we woke up, we were hungry for some food, so we decided to make some fire and grill steak.
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Nature makes you hungry - we packed all kinds of food for the trip. Our friend Dmitry (right), who went camping with us, decided to swim in the cold river to work up the appetite. After that he snacked on sandwitch while Inessa preped dinner.
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Good thing that we had lots of food! We packed our trip food with no health concern in mind. So we brought and cooked steak, baked potatoes, and other relatively unhealthy stuff.
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Beer is an essential part of the camping food list. Corona with lime works miracles especially when it is hot outside. We also got red wine to go with the red meat.
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Dmitry is eating lunch. Beucase we got to the campground late (4 in the morning), we only got several hours of sleep, but still felt pretty good.
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We actually brought some pots to cook with. Here Inessa surveys the food items we brought and complains that there is too much beer and not enough "normal" food.
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Warm weather and fresh air took us for a hike in the nearby mountains. In the afternoon of the first day we went on a small hike in the surrounding areas of our campground. Pictured in the Patrick River that was near our campground.
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After rejecting my idea of crossing the river by foot, we went to look for an alternate route to get to another shore. Unfortunately, we were not able to find the spot to cross the river, but found a nice trail leading along the river. After about an hour of a hike we stopped and decided to rest.
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Dmitry entertained us with his second swim of the day in the river, while Inessa watched her feet while carefully trying to cross the river against strong current and slippery rocks. After the hike and some rest, we turned back because it was the time to visit Crescent City.
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Crescent City, CA was a very beautiful town with several lighthouses and very expensive homes along the shore. One of the lighthouses we visited (pictured) is located on the small island accessible with low tide by surface.
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However, the town itself is nothing much. There are some signs of civilization, like McDonald's, movie theaters, and even several banks and a credit union. We went to the grocery store to replenish our supplies. Inessa liked the town because it was green, with lots of trees and furns.
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Oregon's Pacific coast is very windy. The table, that Inessa and Dmitry sit at, has a clear plastic windscreen, just in case you let go of your hot coffee and it gets blown on to your lap... Ouch
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We took a scenic road returing from campground to Sacramento. After we left the camping site, we drove down the coast to see all the exciting stuff that was on the way, including a drive through Redwoods. A part of our trip was a stop by the Fern Canyon. The road there turned into the off-road rally with small stream running across, logs, moose, etc...
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It was only eight miles from the highway, but it took me about 20 minutes to get there because I tried to avoid senior citizens in their Buicks who thought the narrow gravel road was their own driveway! Well, we enjoyed the canyon and then started to think what to do with the flat tyre on my car. There were few moose welcoming us by the canyon.
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Our friend recommended us to visit Fern Canyon, so we made sure we stopped there before coming back to Sacramento. After we parked, we took a little hike of the hillside before the descending into the canyon that was really green.
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It was really moist there, not too much sunlight, making a great place for ferns that grew in that canyon as big as 2-3 feet high.
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