After overnighting in Grants Pass with the obligatory splash in the pool with the kids, we set off the following morning for the Redwoods. Although we barely saw it, Grants Pass looked to be very nice place and if I were to do the itinerary again I'd find the time to spend a day there and see it properly.

We drove to Cave Junction which had been threatened by raging forest fires until a few days before when the wind shifted direction. Every day on the holiday up until then we had been watching the TV news as the fires marched towards Cave Junction. It must have been terrible for the residents to do the same and wonder every day if their community would get burnt down. Tributes to the firefighters were posted all over the town.

We had the intention of seeing the Oregon Caves but on visiting the visitor centre in the town we found out that the drive up to the caves was further then we had realised on unpaved roads and we did not really have the time. The visitor centre itself is very good and the Ranger had my boys enthralled with local geology of all things ! They came away proudly clutching a piece of local rock each.

Cave Junction is also a super little town and we had a great brunch in a traditional diner there and a wander round some of the main street before setting off for California and the Redwoods.

Driving into California we waved goodbye to the state with no sales tax (I didn't mention that before did I ? in Oregon you pay what it says on the price tag or on the menu, you do not get some more added on at the checkout ! is this unique in the USA ?).

We drove down the scenic highway 199 towards Crescent City. Inside the boundary of Redwood National Park, we stopped at the side of the road some 7 miles from the coast at the Simpson Reed Grove which is right at the side of the road. Only a few short steps from the highway and you are in a different world.

No words I can put together can adequately describe the serenity and majesty of these immense coastal redwood trees. I had been awestruck by the sheer brute size of the giant Sequoias of Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevadas when I saw them, but these coastal sequoias are totally different. They are not as wide at the base as the giant sequoias but they are massive at the base nevertheless when compared with normal trees. However, these coastal redwoods have a better sense of proportion due to their much greater height. Mature trees soar up to 350 feet plus. You feel insectlike in size wandering around the roots of these giants.

Later on in the visitor centre in Crescent City we discovered that the Simpson Reed Grove is the most accessible grove of giant redwoods on the national park. Most of the others require a substantial drive away from the main road and/or a long hike.

We drove down to Klamath and checked into our Motel. I took the mile or so walk down to 'Hidden Beach' with my boys through the woods. What a place. A mile or so beach to ourselves with large rock outcrops at each end and a steep wooded slope up behind us. The Pacific surf rolling in and crashing against rocks offshore from the beach. Spectacularly carved driftwood lined the highwater mark and starfish and crabs filled the rock pools. As I type this I can close my eyes and smell the salted air.