Garberville, CA - July 11 - July 15, 2010

We arrived at the Benbow RV Resort and Golf Course in Garberville on a beautiful, sunny Sunday.  Susan stayed at the elegant Benbow Inn for her 30th birthday and has wanted to return to the RV park for several years.  The resort has a park-like setting on the South Fork of the Eel River in the heart of the redwoods, spacious sites and a welcoming pool.  While it was on the expensive side ($46/night), we enjoyed our time there.

We spent two days exploring the redwoods, touring the scenic Avenue of the Giants, taking a few hikes and being totally awestruck by the majesty of these beautiful trees.  We are thankful to the folks that worked so hard to save the redwoods and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for contributing millions of dollars to the cause. 

A camp host recommended we drive out Mattole Road, through Honeydew and Petrolia to the coast, then north to Ferndale. We did. I recommend one does not take this drive on an empty stomach.  It is a lot of hours over a couple of mountain ranges on a narrow road before reaching Ferndale, and there is nothing along the way.  It is a beautiful drive, but pack a lunch and make sure you have plenty fuel.

Between excursions we labored two days cleaning and polishing our disgustingly filthy home.  Fortunately, we were listened to engrossing books while performing this tedious task.  Books really make the job much easier.

On Thursday Bill played 18-holes of golf at Benbow (2 rounds on this nine hole course), while Susan took a long leisurely walk along the beautiful, redwood-lined country roads.  This is an enchanting place to spend several days.  It was pretty warm while we were there, but in spring when the azaleas and rhododendrons are in bloom, or in fall when the leaves are changing would be perfect.