he said. she said. a married couple's blog.

Right after breakfast we packed up the car and headed even farther north.

We stopped at a couple of beaches just north of Fort Bragg. At the first, there were plenty of rocky outcroppings for photos, but the dead sea lion on the shore kind of ruined it for me. At the second beach we were able to see a few sea lions playing in the surf and explore some tide pools.

After more and more spectacular coastal views, we headed into redwood country. Instead of simply riding on the freeway, we opted to take the Avenue of the Giants. I am so glad that we did. According to one of our brochures/books, the area is home to 60% of the world's largest trees. We could have stopped for more hokiness, but we filled our quota yesterday. I knew the trees were going to be big, but I never could have imagined how large they really are.

Then we arrived in Eureka. We will be here two nights. Today is all about pampering. Brendan ordered us the "Romance in the Redwoods" package at the hotel. That means we had champagne and roses waiting for us in our room, plus an hour massage at 4:30 and dinner at the 4 star hotel restaurant at 6:45. On top of all that, the hotel has upgraded us to their suite on the third floor. It's enormous. We have a double shower in the bathroom, a sitting area with a gas fireplace, and a separate bedroom area with a Jacuzzi. The windows at the tub look out overtop a few blocks of buildings to the harbor (although you have to sit just so in order to see the boats and I can't anyway when I don't have my glasses on).

The massage is the best. It's our first. We were both just completely relaxed. Then it was down to dinner. The restaurant here is "Eureka's only 4 star restaurant." They are supposed to have a ridiculously good wine selection here, too. We've pre-paid for a five-course "discovery" menu. Along with that we decided to have what they call here a "wine flight" In other words, they've chosen the wine that best compliments each course. The meal is really great. What's a little weird though is that there are an awful lot of scraggly looking people who keep walking by and I start to feel a little bit bad for enjoying my pampering so much.