Alaskan Cruise, Part XIII: A Tale of Two Trees

I'm hoping to wrap up last summer's trip before the end of this summer.   In this installment, we're focusing on the Tale Of Two Trees...  to be more specific, the tale of two drive-through trees.  We visited two of them in our journey and give you the details here.  Leaf your cares behind and join me, as we get to the root of today's topic!   BLOGGER NOTE:   All subsequent tree puns will be removed by the blogging service.

Drive-through trees have always captured the public's imagination.   The most famous drive through tree, the Wawona tree, was located in Yosemite National Park and was the second tunnel tree created.   This is the tree pictured on countless postcards, brochures, and other promotional materials.   It was carved out in 1881 as a  tourist attraction and a promotional stunt.  Pictures of cars and buses driving through the tree were distributed throughout the world to help promote tourism in Yosemite and to show the vast size of the trees.  This tree stood until 1969, when a large snowfall caused the already-fragile tree to fall to the ground.   It has since been replaced by the Fallen Tree Tunnel when the forest service cut another tunnel through the trunk of a fallen tree.  The horizontal drive-through tree was not replaced, as the National Park Service no longer goes for gimmicky trees.   And we are a poorer people for it.

A tour bus poses next to the Wawona tree in Yosemite.

The Fallen Tree Tunnel, a mighty poor replacement for the Wawona tree.

People still ask about the famous Wawona tree...  So many, in fact, that a few entrepreneurial folks decide to get into the drive through tree business.   Sure, only God can make a tree, but only man can carve a big hole in one.  Three drive-through trees still exist, all privately owned and operating as a sort of "branch" office (BLOGGER NOTE: Okay, we'll let one more get through.   But that's it.).  I have visited two of them, and will visit the third one this summer.   Below is a comparison of the two I visited, the Chandelier Tree and the Klamath Tour Through Tree.  The Shrine Tree will be reviewed later.

We'll start with the Klamath Tour-Through Tree.  This tree is located in beautiful Klamath county, famous for just about nothing.   It's a pretty boring area.   The tree is located on a bluff over the Klamath river, a river that seems in just as much of a hurry to get out of town as you are.  In fact, the river flows in two directions, both of them leaving town.   The tree is $5 and takes about 10 minutes...   you drive up the hill to a small clearing, drive through the tree, then turn around and drive out.   When we went, there was a couple of senior citizens that were motorcycling their way across country and two girls from Sweden who were amazed that you could actually drive through a tree.   I've heard stories about Sweden, and I assumed living there would be more exciting than THIS.   We took the obligatory photos, helped our fellow travelers with their photos, and were back down the hill in 20 minutes.   We stopped at the gift shop - very small, and no great shakes.   I ended up buying nothing, and if you've ever seen me in a gift shop, you can assume there was very little to recommend. 

Me and the Klamath Tour-through Tree.

 This would be a good time to talk about how you drive through a tree.    The answer is similar to the old joke, "How do porcupines mate?"   The answer:   VERY carefully.  No matter how much room you actually have, it never seems to be quite enough.   Before going through the tree, I inhale and held my breath, as if that gave us extra room to scrooch through.   It's helpful to have a partner watching the car on the passenger side, and not the kind with a weird sense of humor.   Making scraping noises in the middle of a tree is NOT funny.   Once you get through, get out, count your side mirrors, and exhale a sigh of relief.   You have driven through a tree!   My uncle tried driving through a tree once and failed...  of course, he was drunk at the time, and this particular tree didn't have a tunnel carved into it.

The Chandelier Tree is located in Leggett.   If you thought Klamath was boring, wait until you see downtown Leggett.   When the biggest business in town is a drive-through tree, well, you have a real economic slowdown on your hands.  The tree is located at the edge of town.   The Chandelier Tree was carved in the 1930's and is probably the most famous of the three current drive-through trees.   The tree was featured in the opening credits of National Lampoon's Vacation, so you're dealing with a real celebrity here.  This tree is actually located in a nice grove-like area, with picnic areas, a small lake, and a good -sized gift store ready to meet all your tree-related needs.  I bought a nice tree-t-shirt and considered buying the Thirsty Bird, but better sense prevailed. 

The Chandalier tree.   The tunnel is no bigger than it looks.

We made it through the tree!   Please note both rear-view windows clearly attached.

So, let's compare the two experiences, and choose a winner...

• Admission:   Comparable.  
• Celebrity Status:  The Chandelier tree wins out here.
• Gift Shop:  Again, the Chandelier tree was the clear winner.   Not only was the gift shop better, but it sold ice cream.
• Surrounding area:  Klamath was a nicer area than Leggett , with several Indian casinos close by.  So I give this one to the Tour-through tree.
• Extra amenities:  The Chandelier tree had picnic areas, a lake, and most important, a bathroom.  Clearly the edge here goes to the Chandelier tree. 

So there you have it.   Chandelier is the winner.  This year we will visit the third tree, the Shrine tree and complete our analysis of the drive through tree business.   Look for chapter "tree" in the near future!   (If you read this far, it's you own fault.   Personally we stopped reading after the "branch office" comment.)

Alaskan Cruise, Part Leaven

California, here we are!   With the last installment, we completed our adventures in Oregon and were about to have some California Adventures!  (no relation to any theme parks, living or dead) 

As you enter California, the first thing you pass is a minimart that sells lottery tickets.   But once past that, you are amazed by the beauty extolled in the Lucky Seven casino, run by the local Tolowa Indian tribe.   I was scalped for sixty bucks.   But, once past the casinos, the mini marts and the fruit fly inspections, you soon enter Redwood National Park... the beginning of the largest collection of redwood-themed tourist traps I have ever encountered.  

Now, don't get me wrong...   the scenery was beautiful.   The drive down the coast would prove to be a mixture of beautiful forests, ocean views and historic townsights.   But the Redwood area also contains several tree-themed points of interest, each with a gift shop, snack bar and dirt road leading to a gravel parking lot.  Yes, it was Nirvana for me.   Let's start exploring!

Stop one:   The infamous Trees of Mystery.   Ya like trees?  Well, you better, because you're going to see trees.   Lots of trees.   Big trees.   Little trees.  Trees in odd shapes.  Trees on top of other trees.   Trees carved into unusual shapes.   If this was a 1940's Tex Avery cartoon, we'd now cue a dog screaming, "Trees!  Trees!  Thousands of trees!  And they're mine!  All mine!   Ah ha ha ha ha!"   When you first arrive at the Trees of Mystery, you are greeting by that enemy of trees everywhere, Paul Bunyan and his giant (and anatomically correct) big blue ox, Babe.  He had a little laryngitis, so it was a little hard to hear him, but he still greeted us to the Trees and hoped we'd have a good visit.  I stayed clear of Babe and walked past him to the walking paths.

Along the paths, you'll see several fascinating sites.  Marvel at the upside down tree!   Be awestruck by the cathedral tree!   Wonder with delight at the world-famous candelabra tree!   Finds inner peace at the elephant tree!  It was actually a very nice walk through the forest, with several wood carvings along the way in case trees alone aren't enough to hold your interest.   But the finale of this attraction was the most impressive:   a sky tram through the trees up to the top of a nearby mountain, where you get a breathtaking view of the forests and the Pacific Ocean!   It was truly overwhelming and magnificent...   or so I heard.   Personally, the sky tram scared the willies out of me.   But my travel partner rode it and took pictures, which she showed to me later.   I was awestruck.

In the same area you can find the Tour-Through Tree, which I will review in an upcoming article where I will compare the two drive-through trees.   The infamous Ship Ashore Hotel is also in the area, which I wrote about here.  Also in the area was the Bear River Casino, where I was mauled for eighty bucks.  

Eventually we made it down to Eureka, situated on the Northern Coast in Humboldt County.   This is a beautiful town where I would eventually like to spend more time.  However, one of the best reasons to stay in Eureka is its close proximity to the Samoa Cookhouse, located on the Samoa peninsula.   This eatery is one of the best examples of pure Joe Food that I have ever encountered.  

 

The Samoa Cookhouse opened in 1890 as a cookhouse for the logging operations in Samoa, one of the last company-owned towns in the U.S.   For years, the cookhouse fed the loggers working the camp.   Finally, in the 1960's the logging company closed up, and the Samoa Cookhouse began serving meals to the locals.   Not much has changed since those days.  The restaurant serves two entrees every night, family style and cooked in the big vats and ovens that once served the hungry loggers.  First course:   Fresh-baked bread and homemade soup.  This is followed by salads, then the main courses.  The night I went couldn't have been better... they served fried chicken and meatloaf.   Corn and carrots were the side dishes, along with mashed potatoes and gravy.   Normally I'm not a big carrot fan, but these had been cooked with brown sugar and were just delicious.  Everything was homemade and they kept filling the plates until you were full...  and believe me, it was with a certain pain of sadness when I told them they could stop.   Dessert was a piece of spice cake, baked that day. 

This is the Main Dining Room, my home for the next six hours.

The kitchen.  I want to get a range like that for my house.

Eating dinner.   Notice my fine two-handed eating technique.

The restaurant itself is a relic of the old logging camps.   Inside the side room is a small museum full of logging memorabilia, which is good way to pass the time when waiting for a table.  Be sure to ask for a loaf of bread to take home the minute you get there - they usually run out.   My travel partner was very disappointed to find this out, until they offered to give her a few pieces of spice cake to go.

Another great dining location in Samoa is the Fresh Freeze, a local drive in that has been in operation since the 1950's.   I drove by, but who could eat?   I was full of spice cake.   This is why I need to spend some quality time in Eureka.

In our next thrilling chapter, we'll visit more Redwood Tourist traps, and drive through not just one, but TWO trees!  You won't believe your eyes (and neither did the rental company when I returned the car)!   See you then!