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146 2 0 1 5 T R A V E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A DRIVE TOUR » FORT ROSS BODEGA BAY SAN FRANCISCO EUREKA GUALALA LEGGETT HUMBOLDT REDWOODS STATE PARK AVENUE OF THE GIANTS MENDOCINO CRESCENT CITY From the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE , head over to the SONOMA COAST at Bodega Bay (yes, that Bodega Bay: Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Birds there), and follow dramatic, winding Highway 1 north past the old Russian fort, FORT ROSS , and Sea Ranch, GUALALA , MENDOCINO and FORT BRAGG before heading inland to connect with Highway 101—"The Redwood Highway"—at LEGGETT , site of the DRIVE-THRU TREE PARK . Continuing north on the Redwood Highway, you'll come to HUMBOLDT REDWOODS STATE PARK and the AVENUE OF THE GIANTS , EUREKA and the cluster of redwood parks extending almost to the Oregon border. Although it's sometimes called the Red- wood Empire, the North Coast is more than just tall trees: It's also salmon-fishing boats bobbing in tiny harbors; Roosevelt elk bugling across misty meadows; steam trains chuffing through a damp and drip- ping forest; hole-in-the-wall restaurants serving fish smoked according to tradi- tional Native American recipes; vineyards close enough to the coast to catch the salt spray; an old Russian trading fort; hand- some Victorian villages; possible glimpses of the elusive creature known as Bigfoot; wealthy, tie-dyed growers of the region's largest cash crop, which doctors in Cali- fornia can legally prescribe; and bouts of inspired lunacy such as elaborate sculp- tures racing across the landscape. For generations, the North Coast was said to be on the far side of the "redwood curtain," the psychological barrier formed by narrow, tortuous Highway 101, which was little more than a two-lane conduit for heavily-laden logging trucks. But Cali- fornia has spent the last two decades improving the road—straightening curves, widening it in many places to four lanes— and now the road is an easy drive. City & Town Transplanted New Englanders founded the town of Mendocino on a rocky bluff above the crashing Pacific Ocean, and it still sports a whitewashed Cape Cod look. Once a mill town, it went into decay in the 1930s as the local timber trade waned but was rediscov- ered in the 1960s by bohemians and artists. On the shore of Humboldt Bay, Eureka, the largest town on the North Coast, has also reversed decades of decline and turned its waterfront Old Town into an inviting Victo- rian district of galleries, boutiques and cafés. Crescent City was virtually wiped off the map by a tsunami in 1964. Rebuilt now, it sports a smattering of hotels and motels that make it a good base for exploring nearby Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. TOM REICHNER/SHUTTERSTOCK ; MENDOCINO CVB. OPPOSITE: MENDOCINO CVB; N. F. PHOTOGRAPHY/SHUTTERSTOCK ; JAIRO RENE LEIVA/SHUTTERSTOC K ROOSEVELT ELK at Gold Bluffs, Redwood National and State Parks, below; exploring Van Damme State Park, right.