Hello Forest, How We've Missed You!

"In the woods is perpetual youth." 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Now began our race to Lady Bird Johnson grove. The drive through this part of Northern California is beautiful. I have never not experienced fog as we've made this drive. It makes for an eerie experience. We always forget just how far down into California this grove is. In my brain, it should be just outside of Crescent City, but it is actually half way between Crescent City and Eureka. It's the same every time. We drive and drive and drive and just about the point that we decide we've gone too far and need to turn back, we come across the welcome signs informing us that Lady Bird Johnson is close. And every time, it is a race with the sun. I love the low evening light so much that I often risk having no light at all. And this time, I almost pushed it too far.

The perk to waiting until almost dark is that you have the place completely to yourself. I love the redwoods so very much. I can't come to Oregon without stopping by this forest. To do so would be a tragedy. To know this place is nearby and to not visit it makes my heartache, so we visit it, even when it's an hour out of our way.

This forest has an other world quality that you can't find anywhere else. We have to listen to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack every time we travel to this forest, because it literally feels like you're in a Tolkien novel as you walk among these giants.

Is it just me, or does this tree look like an Ent? We were quite sure that those roots were going to turn into legs, and that this lovely tree would begin talking long and slow about the many things he's witnessed in this little corner of the grove.

There are the children hanging out in a goose pen. They need containment just as a flock of wild geese would.

And here are the children practicing a little Bali-wood stance. Did I mention how thrilled I was that we had this place to ourselves? If the trees could talk, what amusing stories they would tell about my silly children roaming the Redwood Forest that night.

And here are my children hugging a tree. We become literal tree-huggers when visiting the redwoods. We just can't help ourselves. We love these trees so very much.

And here are my children doing the Monkee walk. 

"Here we come, walking down the street. Get the funniest looks from, everyone we meet. Hey, hey, we're the Monkees!"

I am reminded of my first experience with the Redwood Forest. We visited this grove for the first time in 2002. Two year old Spencer was asleep in the van, so I sent everyone ahead so that I could stay behind with him. Eventually he woke up, and I decided that he and I would go for a little walk and see what all this hype was about the redwoods. It was one of those spiritual experiences as me and my little toe-headed toddler meandered through this ethereal place just the two of us. How can one question a God in heaven when walking such woods?

The other thing I find so interesting about this place, is how absolutely silent it is. People creep up on you because you can't hear them coming, and the minute they have passed you, you can't hear a thing. It's like the massive trees block all of the sound. I have never heard a bird chirp or even a branch rustle in this forest. It is literally the most quiet place I've ever experienced. Yet another place, I always wish I had a book, a bench, and two hours of spare time on my hands, each time I come here.

We began to discuss that some of these giants had been little saplings at the time that Christ walked the earth. We were truly among some of the oldest living things on this earth, and we felt a certain reverence. 

If only these trees could talk. Oh the stories they could tell. How I would love to sit up against one of their rugged trunks and here of the people of yesteryear who once walked this forest.

But it was getting frighteningly dark. I don't know that I would wish to find myself in this place in the dark of night, with or without a flashlight. Yes, I prefer to enjoy these giants in the daytime. We said good-bye to our tree friends until the next time we venture back to Lady Bird Johnson Grove to find our friends faithfully guarding the forest, virtually unchanged, with many new untold stories hiding in their thick bark and delicate leaves.