Trees of Mystery

My assignment today was to drive to the Trees of Mystery Park, about 20 miles south of town, and take the Skytrain gondola up to Ted's Ridge and back, and walk the trail back to the parking lot. I'll be doing several touristy things so I can have personal experience to relate to our guests when they have questions about what to do.

On the way, I detoured to the Crescent City Beach Overlook, which is also on the Coastal Trail. This is looking north and you can just make out the town on the curve; there's also a harbor.
There was an interesting rock formation, which I understand develops from something called the San Francisco melange (can't quite remember what the sign said).

At the entrance to the Trees of Mystery Park stand statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, hewn from redwood. Babe alone weighs 30,000 lbs.Took the shuttle up to the gondola start and was wafted up the small mountain, about a 7 minute ride, getting colder as we rose. Walked up to the observation deck but fog obscured the entire view. Did get a shot of these flowers (rhododendrons? azaleas? other?).
I had noticed the bright green tips on these fir branches. It looks like new growth but it could just be something indigenous to this tree. Looks nice, though.
And that's when my camera batteries died, so no pictures from my walk of 1/2 mile down the trail. One loop has some fairly amazing chainsaw sculptures: lots of Bunyan and Babe; animals; people; local mythology; and more. All much larger than life, of course. The gift shop is nice but what's even better is the American Indian museum in back. Three large rooms holding the collection of one woman. Very little eastern U.S. (no Cherokee at all), fairly good on the Plains Indians, and extensive on the Northwest and Alaskan Indians. I understand the Smithsonian would love to get its hands on the collection.

Did a little grocery shopping and headed "home." Got hooked back up and finally had lunch at 4pm. A nice day.