Trees of Mystery

....more like Cheeze of Mystery

Trying to let fate play itself out, we stopped by the Trees of Mystery before heading North up the coast. This "attraction" is a real piece of American Kitsch. I mean, the giant redwoods are magnificent on their own. Not sure that a giant paper-mache and concrete Paul Bunyan statue adds a lot to the experience of the natural majesty.

I had to give them the boot...

Big Blue (Ox) Balls

The cheesy exhibits didn't do much for me. I found sad that some really cool natural things had been trampled by hordes of tourists over the years. The sawn tree cross-sections showing thousands of years of growth were mindblowing.

Nature's Underpass

The best part of the experience was the tram ride up the mountain through the redwoods. The walls of the gondola were transparent, so it was a little freaky, but fortunately the floor was not see-through. The whole ride was a bit vertigo-inducing. The fog hadn't broken that morning, so we were not treated to the normal coastal vista. Instead, we got a spooky sensation as we floated through the mist. 

Vertigo!

Daddy and Keiko on the Gondola

Floating Through the Redwood Canopy

Amaya was using crutches after her run in with the floating lake toys, so she was able to join a few octogenarians on a golf cart ride up to the gondola base. When we got to the top, the operator brought the mechanism to a complete stop so that she could get off easily. Oy. 

Amaya stops the gearworks...

The final trail from the gondola base back to the parking lot took us past several huge trees. I mean, they were all huge, but these were HUGE!  In the end, it was clear to me that we weren't led to the Trees of Mystery for any mystical purpose, but we had a good time.

Them's some tall trees....

One Keiko Unit of Scale