This Land is Your Land

This land is my land...

Sonoma County, California

all photos in this series, QT Luong, TerraGalleria Photography

as provided by my son, his friend

Tall Redwood Trees in Morning Mist

Redwood National Park

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A few years ago I decided to take my husband and myself to San Francisco,

rent a car and drive to Mendocino in Northern California, close to

the Oregon border.  I had always wanted to see the coastline and

Mendocino has a Jazz Festival every summer

and I knew Ned would enjoy that.

All I can say is that I am so glad we had a GPS in the rental car. 

I have never driven anywhere on a vacation so, to me,

this was an adventure.

What I discovered was far more than I could ever have imagined.

As we approach Earth Day on Thursday I thought we should all be reminded

of the preciousness we have in our country...

This is about the beauty of Sonoma County, California, home

of the majestic redwood forests.

once you leave the freeway North of San Francisco to go to the coast road

you will drive through a forest primeval, known as the

Jedediah Smith Redwoods,

the road is only a 2-lane winding road with the forest

growing right up to the edge,

there is no shoulder, you are driving in the area

of the oldest known living specimens on Earth.

this is not the 2-lane road, this is a gravel road within the park for the purists

rhododendrons below the tree tops

everywhere you look, gigantic stands of ferns, what looks to

be tropical plants, & their little yellow friend, the banana slug, 

see on the middle left of leaf 

close up of banana slug at home

ferns growing on walls with little steam

precious waterfall

the Russian River in Sonoma County

Roosevelt Elk in Redwood National Park, at home

view of the Pacific Ocean from Klamath Overlook in RNP

early morning mist over the ocean in RNP

My point in this...we almost lost the last remaining stands of these great

trees from negligent disregard of logging and development.  Along with

the trees, an ecology unlike any other on Earth, home to literally hundreds

of species, the Russian River is spawning ground for salmon and trout, and

then there is the coastline itself. 

Someone just like ourselves took a stand in the 1800's and demanded

the government take control of this area, but there are still stretches

which show the flagrant disregard for re-forestation as it is owned

privately.

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 Mother Earth needs "mothering" by all of us.

please go to this link for more detailed information

about the RNP & it's history:

http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/Redwood/Redwood/html

I didn't get to the vacation part of this little journey,

or to tell you why the wines of Sonoma are so wonderful...

that will just have to be another story.