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In previous issues, we've explored many facets of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, and we'll be back with more. For this trip, we're cruising through Bodega Bay, Jenner, Mendocino town and Fort Bragg, taking our first big break in Leggett, where Highways 1 and 101 merge and the Redwood Coast begins.
Leggett is home to one of the North State's most enduring roadside attractions, the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree, a centuries-old coast redwood that was transformed into a tourist stop in the 1930's, when a 6-foot-wide tunnel was bored through it.
Visitors ever since have been driving their cars into the opening and snapping photos with kids and dogs waving hands and paws out the windows. There's a gift shop (of course), but this relic of a bygone America is also graced with pond-side picnic grounds and 250 acres of redwood wilderness laced with dog-friendly trails. It's a great place to stretch your legs, let Rover stretch his and come back with a camera full of memories.