Giant Redwoods Workshop

Recently we had a workshop out of Crescent City and the area of the Great Old Growth Redwoods of California.  It was just amazing to walk around those trees and forests and we had a lot of neat stuff, other than just the “big trees”.   We found osprey nests with babies and a bald eagle nest with two babies  The rhododendrons were in good shape; but they are not always growing in an easy location. Fortunately our scouting enabled us to locate some adjacent to redwoods. They like some light and opening (thus they can tend to hang near the highways) and they do not like the salt breeze (so they are inland more); but they are lovely.  We had some soft fog, but also found a prairie of lupines which was a bonus to the rhododendrons.  But a big bonus was the low tide at a wonderful beach that had just a great coastline and perfectly “planted” starfish.  We were the only visitors for over two hours; very cool to find a beach in California that is  footprint free and photogenic.  Crescent City is recovering from the tsunami, having lost its docks in the harbor; but fortunately the tsunami hit during low tide.  The Battery Lighthouse is always a pleasure to photograph at sunset, and we had some special vantage points to photograph it from.    And we found a great restaurant, for anyone going thru the area; the Chart Room for the local fish and chips and if you are looking for fresh, (really fresh fish, veggies, etc.) the Good Harvest Cafe is a terrific family run restaurant who prides themselves on healthy, good food.  It is a wonderful area for photography, not overly impacted by tourists and plenty of variety and interest for the photographer and family too.