Day 3: Jed Smith SP

We saved the best of the Redwoods for last: Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and within, the Stout Grove.

Here we are near the trail head. You can see Sam didn't wait for me to hand off the camera to Grandpa and is coming back to find us. That kind of thing happened a lot with both Sam and Charlie, but thankfully they always stuck to the main trail and were easily relocated.

Stuck to the trail except when they were log-walking, that is.

Or log-sitting.

The Stout Grove hike was so...gorgeous. And fun. And awe-inspiring/jaw-dropping amazing (even after all we'd seen). Named after the man (Frank Stout) who donated the original 44 acres that started the park (which is also a World Heritage/International Biosphere Reserve site), it was used to film the scenes for the land of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi.
After an unforgetable morning there, we headed back to Crescent City, thinking we'd hit Pebble Beach...

...But the tide had come in and the weather looked like it was worsening, which meant we needed to take off soon if we wanted to make it home. We bought some lunch snacks to eat in the plane, returned the rental car, and away we flew!

Lovely view of the Smith River as we are gaining altitude and heading east. It was a turbulent ride home (it took me a couple of days to recover) but it was beyond worth it. The thankful Father's Day card we gave to Grandpa on our return is such a paltry token, I hope he knows how much we all appreciate what he has given us.