REDCREST, CA (Day 2).  Today we drove the Avenue of Giants and pulled over for a few significant points of interest.  Just driving that road is quite an experience.  Betty shot a few videos that we shall include later.  It is an interesting area, but they are having a heat wave now.  The car dash gauge read 104 degrees as we set out.  Usually they have temperatures in the 70s.  The heat seems to follow us wherever we go.

We are camped at the Ancient Redwoods RV Park, which is interesting in itself.  We have included below a few phone snapshots of it and items in its gift shop.  Along the Avenue we took many photos with our DSLRs.

We continue to struggle with poor WIFI and Version service.  It really puts a damper on processing digital images and data, as well as communicating with the outside world.  The only reason we can update this blog is the limited WIFI this RV park provides.  I guess we should get used to it, since we hear it will be even worse in Canada and Alaska.

Betty Admiring Trees Here at RV Park

Antique Truck Reworked to Include Hollowed Tree

Betty Inside Hollow of Fallen 950-1000 Year Old Tree

Gift Shop Here Appeals to Bigfoot Fans

Redwood Items Galore Here at Gift Shop

An item at the Avenue Visitor Center noted the sad irony of the white man's impact on the land.  So certain of our superior contribution to the land we overtook, we had to found societies to protect the land from ourselves.  Before we came, there was no need to found official parks to protect the land from destruction and save the big trees.  The native tribes always worked to protect the land for future generations.  An exhibit from the local tribe states:

"When we kill meat, we eat it all up.  When we dig roots we make little holes.  When we built houses, we made little holes... We didn't ruin things.  We shake down acorns and pinenuts.  We don't chop down the trees.  We use only dead wood..."

When we were in South Dakota last year, the local tribes puzzled over the "yellow rock that drives the white man crazy," referring to all the violence and hardship brought by the breaking of treaties to get the gold on native tribal lands.  A sad and troubling history.