Bandon Beach Sea Stacks
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Lands of the Giants for #Earth Day

Earth Day is officially on Wednesday, April 22. Countless folks have been celebrating our amazing Planet Earth in many ways since 1970, when Earth Day was founded.

I’m recognizing Earth Day through photos of sea stacks, bird nests, and giant coastal Redwoods. Let’s take a walk through the Lands of the Giants today and experience Earth’s history.

I seem to be working backward as I share images and experiences from our 40-day road trip.

But First… A Giant Red Bridge

During the last week of our road trip, we left Mountain View, California, where we spent three days with my oldest daughter. We drove north through San Francisco and couldn’t resist a quick stop at the Golden Gate Bridge North Vista Point. The total height of the bridge towers is 746 feet (227 meters) above the water.

Construction on the bridge began in January 1933, and it was completed in May 1937. Read more of its history here.

Golden Gate Bridge
View of Golden Gate Bridge

“We’ll be remembered more for what we destroy than what we create.” ― Chuck Palahniuk

Walking Among Giant Redwoods

Thursday, April 2, found us heading north along the California Coast between Arcata and our destination in Bandon, Oregon. Our planned stop was to visit Redwood National/State Park. We were limited to short walks because dogs are not allowed on the trails. We took turns.

The average height of these coastal redwoods is 200-330 feet tall (60-100 meters), and they are known to live over 2000 years! Oh, what they could tell us!

Giant Redwood

Redwood National and State Parks is a complex of protected areas located in northern California, near the Oregon border. The parks are known for their towering redwood trees, which are among the tallest and oldest on Earth. The parks are home to several redwood species, including the coast redwood, which can grow up to 379 feet tall. SOURCE

Hyperion, the tallest tree in the world, standing at 379 feet (115 m), is located in this area. Park Rangers want to keep the location secret due to vandalism…who the heck would do that?

“Together we can preserve the forest, securing this immense treasure for the future of all these children.”— Chico Mendes

This image gives you an idea of the trees’ height. And these weren’t the tallest ones!

giant redwood trees

As I walked among the giants, I saw two women struggling to capture a selfie with this backdrop. I offered to take a few pics, then they returned the favor!

woman in redwood trees

I edited this selfie with a fun filter from Google Images.

selfie woman

Walking Among the Giants in Bandon Beach

“The miracle is not to fly in the air or to walk on water, but to walk on the earth.” — Chinese Proverb

After a lunch stop in Klamath, CA, we finally arrived at our destination in Bandon, Oregon, at 3:00 pm. Bandon is known for incredible ocean views, charming stores and restaurants, a historic lighthouse, and an art community. We spent two nights there, so we had an entire day to explore Bandon on a sunny, windy day.

Join me as we walk among the giant sea stacks.

Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint, Bandon, Oregon

One of the first sea stacks you will encounter is Face Rock, the state park’s namesake. Face Rock is known for the near-perfect side profile of the legend’s princess, gazing skyward towards the moon. It’s also one of the easiest formations to recognize – the features of the rock make it look unmistakably like a real face! SOURCE

Face Rock Bandon Oregon
Do you see the princess’s face gazing at the moon? Here is more about the legend.

We strolled along the beach, an easy walk from our hotel. As we walked and saw the sea stacks in the distance, we were stunned at their immensity as we got closer!

The Wizard’s Hat is shown on the left, a nod to Harry Potter’s sorting hat. Notice the scattered washed-up velella at the bottom of the image?

Sea Stacks Bandon Beach Oregon

Below is a fun rendering using Google Images filter.

Bandon Beach Sea Stacks

Another view shows more of the sea stacks.

Sea Stacks Bandon Beach
Bandon Beach
Which do you like, the real view on the left or the filtered version on the right?

Brodie kept a close eye on his dad, who walked close to the water. Brodie loves the water, but we wouldn’t let him run free off leash, or we’d never get him out!

brown dog on beach
Brodie the Giant Dog

Mother Earth Repopulates

For those of you wondering, yes, our Phoebes are back to nest under our patio rafters again, in their third year. Mama Phoebe showed up on February 23, just two days before we left for our road trip and 5 days earlier than in February 2025.

Sorry for the dim photo, but her nest-building skills have really improved!

Phoebe bird in the nest
Mama Phoebe Sitting on Her Nest

Papa Phoebe is still as vigilant as ever.

Brown bird flycatcher

While Mama and Papa were off catching their flies, I took a quick look into the nest and found 4 beautiful eggs. I’ll share a picture of those soon! We’re hoping history will repeat itself with four healthy fledglings.

This week, I’m linking to Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, Jo’s Monday Walk, and Lens-Artists: History.

brown swatch

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore National Garden Month (April).

Please note that I plan to take a very short break from May 2-4 while I switch my blog from a classic theme to a block theme. I expect to be back in time for the Flower Hour on May 5.

See Deb’s World and Hugh’s Views and News for how they each switched seamlessly.

Misty Bandon Beach

“Earth breathes in us.” ― Matthew Edward Hall

graphic

© 2025 Copyright — Terri Webster Schrandt and secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved

© 2026 Copyright — Terri Webster Schrandt and secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved

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93 comments

  6. I agree with John. I love what you are doing with your photos. They are stunning to start and fun stunning to end. I would have love to have been a little bird on your shoulder as you traveled up the coast. It’s so beautiful 🙂 xxxxxxxx

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  11. Beautiful photos Terri. We enjoyed staying on the coast of Oregon a few years ago. B
    Such a lovely area!
    The redwoods pictures are fabulous.
    You all packed a lot into your trip.
    Great post!

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  12. Wonderful images of our beautiful earth! You’ve inspired me once again. 🙂 I’ll be interested to see how your theme change works out. I’ve been considering the same but concerned that I’ll lose proper formatting of my older posts, which will result in a lot of work to fix! Oh well. No pain, no gain, I guess! 😉 🙂 Here’s my offering for this week. For the Beauty of the Earth – the Great and the Small – Cats and Trails and Garden Tales

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    • Thank you, Susanne!
      I just copied all my blog menu items to a word document (pages, about me,.etc) in case.
      If you use the block editor which i suspect you do, once you switch to a block theme, all posts should stay in their block formats. I’m sure I have really old post still in classic editor, but im not worried about those. Good luck when you get to it. Ill let you know in a post.

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      • Good to know! I’ve using the block editor for a long time, but there still plenty of old ones in the classic editor. I’m such a perfectionist, I’d feel obliged to go tweak them all! But I’m anxious to see how your new theme comes out, and I expect to plunge into the task sooner or later. 😊

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  14. Giants indeed, both the awe-inspiring redwoods and the sea stacks at Bandon. I remember loving the latter place on a long-ago road trip in Oregon and admiring the trees much more recently when we were last in California.

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  15. I don’t mind the filtered photos, but the real ones are the best for me, Terri. The beach views with those huge, giant rocks are amazing. And I love the princess head looking up at the moon. What a great capture.

    I’m sure I have a similar photo of the Golden Gate Bridge from a road trip along Highway 1 in 2010 to celebrate my sabbatical from work. I had a whole six weeks of paid leave for completing 21 years at the company where I worked. We also visited the Redwood trees and, of course, the wine country. I loved Nappa!

    You made me chuckle about not being able to get Brodie out of the sea. And it’s great to see the Phoebes are back. Nesting season is well underway.

    Have a great week.

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    • Thank you, Hugh! Funny how one can take the Golden Gate Bridge for granted, as I have visited the City often over the years. Glad you got to see it! We stopped for that particular view, as I’ve never taken a pic from that vantage point before.

      Thanks for your feedback on the filtered images. Of course I prefer the real Pic but they’re fun to create.
      Walking among the giants was a thrill for us. We saw and experienced many amazing things during our trip, stay tuned!

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  23. I love these photos – that’s a perspective of the golden gate bridge I don’t see very often. So iconic. The Redwoods are one of the only things in California that I really want to see, but I don’t see traveling to the west coast in our near future. Your photos are spectacular and make me want to go even more!

    Here’s my contribution to Sunday Stills for this week: https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/2026/04/sunday-stills-and-flower-hour-hoover.html

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    • Thanks, Cathy! I had fun with the filters (Google images AI does a great job). We were sure glad to visit the northern Cal coast and Southern Oregon. Definitely bucket list items! The good thing is we can return to the Oregon coast from Spokane without enduring that crazy winding drive!

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  25. Those are beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Redwood Forest. I took a California coast trip from San Francisco to L.A. in 1981 and we got to visit the Redwood Forest and, like you, I was in awe of how tall they are and how small I felt standing amongst them. I prefer the unfiltered version of the image. I liked your quotes today Terri, especially this one: “The miracle is not to fly in the air or to walk on water, but to walk on the earth.” — Chinese Proverb

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    • Thank you, Linda! We had a great time once we got off the highway. It was a great and memorable experience. I’m glad we stopped for the redwoods, even if for only one hour. There a a lot of excellent quotes for Earth Day. Seems to be near and dear to people’s hearts!

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      • I didn’t spend a lot of time there either, just long enough for a visit and to be in awe of these very old and tall trees. Yes, we should think more about Mother Earth and what we can do to sustain life here for a very long time.

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    • Dear Terri,

      I have perused this lovely post entitled “Sunday Stills: Lands of the Giants for #Earth Day“, and I concur with all of your messages. Thank you for your commendable effort in conveying your love of trees.

      I also concur with Linda and therefore shall resonate with your spirit of appreciating trees as follows with respect to Nature and the benefits of trees via a contemplative tour of comparing humans against trees:

      Factories don’t make oxygen. Trees do. Respect nature.

      In a sense, the photo can constitute a “postcard” that I am now sending to you, as I travel and land on this excellent blog here.

      This photo or “postcard” has been featured in my highly philosophical and analytical post entitled “The Quotation Fallacy “💬”.

      Wishing you and Linda a very happy and fulfilling Earth Day! May you savour Nature’s beauty as you witness a new horizon and journey towards a lingering sunset just as the treasured essences of Mother Earth bid you an evening farewell during the twilight hours of Earth Day…..

      Yours sincerely,
      SoundEagle🦅

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  26. This is a vivid and heartfelt tribute to Earth Day 🌍

    You’ve blended travel, history, and reflection so naturally—it feels like the reader is right there with you, moving from the iconic Golden Gate Bridge to the quiet awe of Redwood National and State Parks.

    What I really appreciate is the sense of wonder you bring to it. The towering redwoods aren’t just facts and figures—they feel alive in your words, almost like silent witnesses to centuries of history. That line, “Oh, what they could tell us!” lingers beautifully.

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  27. Terri, Wow! Redwoods and Sea Stacks all in the same post! Your images capture the beauty of the places perfectly. It’s been almost twenty years since we visited the Redwoods and the Oregon coast. I’m so grateful I was able to see these amazing places.

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    • Thank you, Beth! This part added a week to our trip, but it was worth it. It rained a lot between Fort Bragg and Arcata so we couldn’t stop for views. I couldn’t resist the “giant” subtheme for Earth Day! Glad you were able to see the areas too!

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    • Thank you, Cathy! It occurred to me we spent a lot of time dwarfed by nature on our trip! Worked with my own theme 😉

      Yes, its time to make adjustments on my blog. My plan is to take some screen shots of my pages and sidebar, then work on the switch. I already decided on the them (Carnation). Seems easy enough. I get so many log-in requests to others’ blogs, etc, when I’m using the jetpack app and on the computer. I figured I’d clean my house first! I report back next month.

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      • Yes, those log in requests are such a pain. Taking photos before you do anything is a great idea. I’ll keep it in mind, I’m sure I’ll have to change sooner or later…

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  30. The size of those trees is astonishing. Makes one feel very small. Bandon looks like a lovely beach and that rock is definitely a face! I hope your phoebes have a successful brood. Good luck with your switch to the block editor. I guess I hadn’t realized they still had the classic one! As I recall, the switch was straightforward for me. Just had to get used to doing things a little differently. Here’s mine this week: https://grahamsisland.com/2026/04/19/it-all-starts-with-the-creation-of-earth/

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    • Thank you, Graham! We were excited to be among the redwoods and along the coast, places I hadn’t visited before.

      So I’m switching to a Block theme, as I already use the block editor. The block editor works best with the block theme, apparently. I’m hoping it will help solve the log-in issues I have with some blogs.

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  33. We saw the Redwoods on our journey along the coast a few years ago, but I’m afraid we missed those gorgeous sea stacks. Our only coastal views in Oregon that wasn’t from the highway was Heceta Head State Scenic Viewpoint.

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  34. What a thrilling set of photos, Terri! We never made it to the west coast in our travels, and the one thing we wanted to see the most besides the coastlines were the redwoods. I love your photos of them, wow, incredible trees!

    I love your precious Say’s Phoebes photos! I’m excited to see their eggs and soon thereafter little heads begging for food! They are sweet, Terri, what a joy to have them!❤️

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    • Thank you, Donna! There are two set of Redwoods in California, the tall coastal variety, and the huge ones in Sequoia NP. Truly amazing!
      Our Phoebe family is precious. They both work so hard and Papa is vigilant and protective. Your post explained so much about the why!

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  37. Thank you for the beautiful reminder of Earth Day, Terri. Great photos of those huge trees. Nature is spectacular and its longevity in trees speaks volumes to life’s endurance on planet Earth. I love the Phoebe on the rail/hook…superb moment captured…that must have taken a great deal of patience! Amazing!

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  42. All beautiful photos, Terri! I saw those beautiful Redwoods back in the 80s with my dad, they are so huge that you feel like an ant on the ground! I like the paint effect on the sea stacks photo, lovely. Have a lovely Sunday. 😍🙏🏻

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