Our view: Car enthusiasts might want to stay for a while

Perhaps the lure of classic cars brought you here this weekend. If so, welcome to Del Norte County.

It’s a place where you can experience solitude while soaking in world-class scenery, but you’ll have plenty of company in Beachfront Park during today’s 18th annual Sea Cruise. After all, what could be better than strolling a bayside greenway, weaving through hundreds of automotive beauties?

Stick around for a couple more days and you might find out. That view across the water to the harbor is only the beginning. Just past it is South Beach, where surfers plied the Pacific during last weekend’s 14th annual Noll Longboard Classic. All that’s missing is a row of lifeguard towers and the crowds you’d fight if this quintessential California beach happened to be a little farther down the coast highway.

Go north to Pebble Beach, and find out just what an embarrassment of riches Crescent City possesses when it comes to coastlines. The sea stacks don’t pile up any better than the stretch from Battery Point Lighthouse to Point St. George. Take it all in from above as you drive, bike, jog or walk along Pebble Beach Drive. Or descend to the sand and enjoy basically the same view all those barking seals have out toward Castle Rock.

It’s only a short drive north or south to innumerable other coastal trails and beaches. Or perhaps you might want to go a mile or two inland and immerse yourself in the tallest trees in the world. Since you’re here for a car show, you’re likely to appreciate the drive through old-growth redwoods on Howland Hill Road. Keep your hands inside the windows, because these giants grow mighty close to the road.

Don’t tell the folks in Sacramento this, because they’ve been engaging in a lot of loose talk lately about closing state parks that are underutilized. But the fact is, up here you can hike for hours amid the gnarliest redwoods Earth has to offer and not encounter another human being. It’s so quiet you might even hear the distant harbor foghorn.

And don’t worry. They’ll never close these parks because these are the redwoods.

The coast/redwood corridor constitutes only the western strip of Del Norte. To the east lie pristine river canyons where the fishing and swimming holes are abundant and the temperature rises along with the terrain.

The fact that most of our county is preserved public land provides a source for endless political debate. Yes, the locals do their share of squabbling. Heck, the concept of allowing those classics cars to be parked on the grass during Sea Cruise led to a dispute last year that nearly brought the event’s demise. And some people are even annoyed by that foghorn.

But the locals also realize this is almost paradise, and you will too. Stay awhile, or pay us another visit soon. This is the best time of year here. The coastal fog has burned off, the inland heat is still on and the future is bright.

How bright? Well, those sea stacks and old-growth redwoods aren’t going anywhere. And when you’ve got them, you’ve got just about everything.

Enjoy the show.