Hwy 1 north of SF was closed around Muir Beach last year. That may be the first time it's been closed sine I've lived in the area (32 years). Hwy 1 near Big Sur seems to get closed about once every 5-10 years or so.

The odds of both Hwy 1 north of SF & in Big Sur being closed at the same time are very slim.

We just got back from a drive (my wife's been cooped up in the house for 1 week with a broken foot). We drove 20 mins to Half Moon Bay, then south along the coast (pulling off the road a few times to watch the huge surf generated by the recent storm) to Pescadero for lunch, and then through the redwoods to Woodside then back home. Beautiful drive. Some fog near Pescadero Beach, but when we drove back home it was in the low 60s & blue sky (a bit hazy though).

I'm an ex-LA person too. First rain of the year here & there are scads of accidents on the road. I grew up in LA but went to college at Purdue in the Midwest. First time there was snow on the road, I had no idea what to do.

Stu Dudley

No redwoods to drive through in Big Basin. Not sure if there are still any drive thru redwoods along the north coast anymore either - someone else can probably tell you for sure, but I thought I remembered reading that they are no more.

If your husband is disappointed, just remind him how terrible it is for the trees to drill through them.

If your husband is disappointed, just remind him how terrible it is for the trees to drill through them. >>

OMG, that was a good one J!

Driving through trees is kind of like throwing trash into Old Faithful. Since your husband is a nature lover, once he sees the redwoods he'll realize that you don't have to drive through them to appreciate them! There are plenty of biggies, though, including a couple named the Father and the Mother of the Forest.

For trail info, etc., check out http://www.bigbasin.org

Oh, and I had a typo in my last post. I meant SJC for San Jose Intl. Airport.

You know, in all honesty, he probably wouldn't like the drive-thru tree experience. He is a purist. It was his non-purist, room service loving wife who thought that defined "big trees". Oh well, I had good intentions. <g>

As a joke, I asked him if he'd like to stay in the Big Basin tent cabins. B I G M I S T A K E

There are a few drive through trees left up north, you can read about them here:
<http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attra...Itree.html>

Most of the drive through trees have died, and as the site says extraordinary efforts are made by the owners of the few remaining to keep them standing.

I believe that Big Basin's Mother and Father of the Forest are so-named because they are, um, anatomically correct. Mother has a large um, womb-like opening in the trunk, and Father has a rather, uh, virile burl on the trunk. I've never seen or heard anyone refer to this, I just figured it out on my own. You don't have to believe me, but I am personally certain this is why those not-so-repressed Victorians called the taller tree Mother and the shorter one Father. Take a look:
<http://www.bigbasin.org/NewFiles/Hil...Forest.jpg>
<http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/3Dbayarea...Basin7.jpg>

Re: tree names, this is from the Big Basin website:

"The Redwood Loop Trail showcases the tallest measured tree in the park and the two trees with the widest circumferences. Known as the Mother, Father, and Santa Clara Trees, these famous redwoods are among the most photographed trees in Big Basin."

Sequoia's explanation is better, though. I'll never look at a redwood tree the same way again.

If your goal is to see the coast and the redwoods and not hit the wine country,
you should drive the whole coast to the Oregon border. You've got the Lost Coast, Jeb Smith State Park and the National Parks. yo've got plenty of time. You can either take the Redwood Highway to it's terminus in Grants Pass and then start back south on I 5 through the Rogue Valley and on past Mt Shasta to Redding,
a very scenic drive, or head back South on 101/1, retracing your steps.

Caroline, I'm sure they chose to name the Father and Mother because they are among the largest trees in the park, all I'm saying is that they chose those names for those exact trees due to the features I described. I'd been going there for years and always wondered why they would call the shorter tree Father and the taller one Mother, but I figured it had to do with Mother's "womb" (it's really an oval shaped opening, closed at the bottom as well as the top). Then one day I thought "wouldn't it be funny if Father had a complementary masculine feature?" The next time I went there I finally recognized it--the virile burl! Given early 20th century habit of finding animal shapes in redwood burls, I think it's almost unbelievable that they did not find Father's burl appropriate for his name.

Anyway, I would agree with several posters and reiterate: if you want to see the best of the redwoods you should go up to Humboldt and Del Norte counties, at Humboldt Redwoods State Park (Avenue of the Giants and the Rockefeller Forest) the average tree is about the size of Big Basin's Father and Mother. The largest there are another 50 feet high and ten feet wide, and there about a dozen or more of these.

Well, I have the entire trip planned out if I go the southern route. Even know where we'd stay.

If I take the northern route instead, taking into consideration it's mid March, do you think we would need lodging reservations in advance? I would love to just drive and stop when we find a special place. Being that it doesn't have Carmel, Monterray, and Big Sur type tourists, do you think we'd have a problem?

It's not like anywhere is going to be crawling with tourists because it IS March. (though if it's a weekend with incredible weather there will be some beach traffic.) It's just a matter of what you want to do most and how much driving you want to do. If you want to go to the northern redwoods AND see Big Sur, there's some distance to cover. If you want to see Big Basin and forego the north, here's a suggestion.
Arrive in San Jose. Get your car and stay locally near the Santa Cruz mountains like in Los Gatos. (20 minutes from the airport). There's a nice walkable downtown area and you can shop, there are great restaurants, and maybe catch a movie that night.
Next morning, go to Big Basin. It doesn't need to be at the crack of dawn -- you room service loving gal you -- but it should be fairly early. Be prepared to walk/hike. Bring water, your camera, and layers of clothing.
Next day,either head back to Big Basin, or if you've "done that", I don't know if you like wine or not, but if so, there are a lot of great Santa Cruz Mountain wineries, and that's a fun way to explore the beautiful area and literally get a taste of local flavor. If you're not into wine, Santa Cruz has the Boardwalk, and Capitola's an old, old beach town on the other side of "the hill", which is small and colorful and it might be fun to poke around there before heading down to Carmel/Monterey.
Stay overnight in Carmel/Monterey. You have to "do" Carmel one day because it's unlike anywhere else. There are wonderful restaurants, or you can just make your own picnic by getting some fab cheese at the cheese shop, walk to the beach at the end of the street, and take in the beauty of the ocean as you munch away on a lovely aged Gruyere. You said you like the ocean, right?
Next day, head down to Big Sur. Nature loving hubby will be in awe, and you, ocean lover, will be in awe, too. Stay overnight.
Next day, driving day. Take Hwy 1 from Big Sur up the coast past Santa Cruz, Davenport and Pescadero and land in Half Moon Bay. It's scenic, laid back and gives you yet another flavor of the coast. Next day, head up to San Francisco. Stay there for a couple of days. See as much as possible. (there's never enough time) and then drive down to San Jose airport (about an hour or so) and fly back home.

Caroline, are you in travel? You make everything sound so easy! I love your ideas. I also like the go to SF last instead of my original plan.

I'm going to run this by nature boy tonight and see what he thinks. If I had 2 weeks it would make this trip so much easier to decide on.

Thanks guys,
Mary

Did I tell ya, his latest was renting an RV. Heaven help me.

Wolfie, since this is for March head South this time, then take another week and do the North trip for a week
in about June or July some year.

I think you're right BBJ. It makes my life so much easier.

We shall see what he thinks.

Thanks again to all. Although I do reserve the right to pop in again for questions. <g>

Mary

I don't work in the travel industry but I love to travel and I'm a native of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Whenever I travel, I do a lot of research ahead of time using all kinds of resources, and that helps me figure out what I want to see and do once I get there. I try to keep it a short list, though, so I'm not completely programmed and there is some unscheduled time.
Once I'm there, I always try to talk to locals and find out what THEY like about the area and where they would go if THEY had a day or two to venture out. Often these tidbits end up being the best part of our trips.
For example, my hub and I went to upstate NY for a wedding some years ago and we were dying to see Niagara Falls. We were chatting with some folks at the wedding, telling them of our Niagara plans, and they said, (in their wonderful, thick, NY accents) while Niagara was nice, what we REALLY wanted to do was go to the Thousand Islands. "It's God's Country up there", we were told. Of course all I could think of was pinkish-orange salad dressing, but we followed their advice, got on a ferry, and were completely taken by the beauty and uniqueness of the area. It was truly was a highlight of our trip.
Just travel with the mindset that you're on an adventure and you're going to see things and do things you've never done before. Try not to have a lot of pre-conceived notions because that's almost asking for disappointment.
And for crying out loud, tell Nature Hub that an RV is a great idea - for another trip. With his man friends. This ANNIVERSARY trip will include as much nature as he can handle as well as lodging with turned-down sheets and a mint on the pillow every night. Love is full of compromises, right?

Earlier in this thread, I posted that I did not remember what the weather was like last March. Someone "topped" another thread, and I made this comment about our weather last March on it.

>>>I think the weather has changed this year. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we just set a new record for the most days with rain in March - 25. It is set to continue through next week also. Temps 5-10 degrees below normal.<<<

If you believe in averages - it should be dry this coming March!!!

Stu Dudley

So much for the nature lovers on here, the redwoods play a huge in the ecosystem. National Geogrphic had a great special on the importance of the redwoods and how its been affected by global warming.

Ok guys, all of my reservations are booked -- lodging, car, and of course air which was done last week.
We're staying 2 nights by Big Basin, 2 nights in Carmel, (to drive down to Big Sur and check out the Carmel/Monterey areas) and 2 nights in SF.

As it happens (thank you SC!), we'll be in SF for our anniversary. Any seafood/fish dining recommends? Where can we go for the absolute best seafood in the SF area?

Oh, I almost forgot. A good while back, while perusing, someone mentioned a fish place that was on the way from SF to Half Moon Bay. For that matter, it may have been Half Moon Bay, I cannot remember. In any event, it was NOT a tourist place, not 5 star dining either, but supposedly had the best fresh fish in the area. I think it was off of Hwy 1. Am I imagining this?

Thanks,

Mary

I found the fish place but it's in Moss Landing. It's called Phil's Fish Market. We will go there during our Carmel/Monterey stay.

Have any of you heard of Plouf's? I read they have fabulous mussels.

Mary