(the misadventures of an expatriate corporate dropout)

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Trip Highlight - Avenue of the Giants


If you should find yourself in or near California on a trip to the United States ... you must make time to view a dwindling part of history while there. Something that should be noted as the eighth wonder of the world.

I'm referring to the last remaining site for Gigante Sequoia species ... The Avenue of the Giants a 500 mile belt of redwoods that tower over 200 feet tall (the tallest is 370 feet !!) imagine a tree taller than Niagara falls ... or as tall as a 30 story building! unimaginable and yet in person, even more dramatic and memorable than pictures can relate. The Avenue of the Giants is a 31-mile stretch that runs parallel to Hwy 101 and displays some of the more choice specimens of this amazing forest.

Better still, imagine walking through a grove of such trees with someone you love ... nothing but the crunch of the terrain beneath your feet ... the scent of the woods and the ferns ... an occasional bird ... and that indescribable silence and calm from nature. Hug your partner and then hug one of these stately beauties and draw the energy in ... feel it soothe your being as you contemplate the centuries that have passed in its presence.

This visit was a humbling experience for us, rendering us somewhat awestruck and thankful that we were able to do it together ... forming a lifelong memory that not everyone gets the chance to create. the enormity of it defies explanation.

There is so much I could write about these awe-inspiring trees ... it doesn't do them justice to call them 'trees' and they have certainly earned the title of giant. At one time on earth, they existed all over the world. Humans have managed to destroy all but what remains (either directly or indirectly) and I can only guess it is a matter of time before these are gone as well.

3 comments:

Rosie said...

I found one here at Les Jardins Panoramiques de Limeuil last week! Definitely not the same experience but a wonderful reminder. I'm sure when we saw them in California that the opinion was that they needed the fogs off the Pacific but apparently the mist off the Dordogne will do too! Aren't they amazing.

Non Je Ne Regrette Rien said...

hi Rosie, yes we have one or 2 sequoias in our parc here in Brantôme ... they are of the same family but the sequoia gigante can now only be found in this one forest ... at least according to all the material presented there. In any event, they are truly an amazing species of trees...

Darling said...

wow it seems just fabulous...