I woke up at 6:45 on Monday, pretty well-rested too- considering I was sitting around almost all day in the hotel room getting last-minute, grade-saving homework done. I walked about a half mile to the car rental place. I paid for a convertible, thinking they'd give me an old mustang or something. I was thrilled to see that it was a Mitsubishi Eclipse. (Pretty bad-ass too.) I have only sat in two convertibles in my life, and hadn't ever driven one. It was a real treat when I opened the ragtop for the first time before hitting the road.

It was 8:15am when I pulled onto the 101. The morning fog is a normal phenomenon here in San Francisco, but it's still a wild experience for tourists like me. I had to pull over to throw on more layers to stay warm, but I wasn't about to close the top! I was having too much fun.

The mission for the day's drive was to see the magnificent Redwood trees of California. The route would take me up the coast to Northern California to Eureka. Since the fog was so prevalent, I opted for the 101 highway (a faster road) than driving along the coast (rt. 1). I took that up for a few hours, then took a backroad that cut over to the coastal highway.

The backroad was windy and hilly, weaving around the mountains and cutting through the Sonoma valley. Passing a vineyard at almost every driveway, I zoomed on through Ukiah and over to Mendocino. This was one hell of a drive. I had a blast.

The sun was already out and beaming when I made it to the coastline. I could see the Pacific pounding huge cliffs and rocky beaches to my left. I bombed around the coastal highway as we got up the mountains. I got quite a rush from weaving the 15mph roads at a ...modestly...faster speed. It was one of my happiest experiences, being in the middle of enormous redwood trees, sun shining, a steady wind, some oldies on the air, and kettle-cooked salt and vinegar chips. I got a pic of me zooming around a corner, but didn't really have time to pose, since I was cornering a hairpin turn at the time.

I guess I should talk about the Redwoods now, since they were everywhere. From a photo, the trees look nice, but pretty normal. When given some sense of scale, you can really see how big these things are. I picked up the 101 again after going through the drive-through tree. It was touristy, but still pretty wild that you can drive a car through a tree.

I got up to Ferndale, another mission for me on the road to Eureka. Ferndale was the town that Frank Darabont picked to shoot The Majestic. I drove through the quaint little town and continued on the road. When I got to Eureka, it was cold and foggy. It was starting to drizzle. At this point, I had driven about 7 hours, and when I got there, I wasn't in a mood to stop anymore.

I fueled up and grabbed a bite for dinner, then started on my way home. Now, on the way back, the sun came bursting out again. I pulled over to take the top back down. I opted to veer off the 101 to try out the Avenue of the Giants. It's a several-mile stretch that parallels the road, but weaves through the trees. That was AWESOME. I can't express in words how cool this jaunt through the woods went. I stopped every once in a while to take some photos, and just had a blast. I tried hard to make my mark on the forest by shoving a tree over. Good thing I've been working out- I was able to do it! (heh)

The remainder of the drive was pretty much all in the sun. I had the top down, which kept me awake. I stopped into a store to pick up some jeans and then got home. It was a 15-hour day, and I drove probably 13 hours of it. It was a long, long day. I'll never forget it.