Big Trees, Good Friends, and an Ocean
Northern California has been amazing. Our time has been spent enjoying the redwoods, the Pacific Ocean, and good friends—new and old. The redwood groves around here are unreal… it's hard to drive by without stopping for a look around. I've been in redwoods before but never appreciated them the way I do now. We spent time hiking under the ancient giants in Jedediah Smith and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks. The combination of the redwood trees and the ocean here make for some impressive scenery… this place is beautiful. When we arrived in Eureka, the sun was shining, I was wearing a t-shirt, and palm trees dotted the landscape. Now that right there was a good feeling. Having spent the last couple months in chilly weather under overcast and rainy skies, it felt so good to feel some sunny warmth.
Since hitting the coast we have been trying to connect with the Surfrider foundation. It's an organization made up of surfers and people who just love the ocean—"Our mission is the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network", says their website. None of the chapters in Washington or Oregon returned our calls or emails, but the Humboldt Surfriders responded and invited us to their monthly meeting. We wanted to get involved so we went to the meeting, met the people, and learned about how we could help. Since then, we have attended their monthly ocean night at the Arcata theater, helped with their adopt-a-highway project on the 101, and even got to get out surfing! We met Mario, a local surfer, at the ocean night event, and he offered to teach us a thing or two about surfing. Of course, we happily took him up on his generous offer. Yesterday, we met him in Arcata and headed north to Moonstone Beach in Trinidad. Hallie met us out there to help with the lesson—we all suited up and headed out into the water. The ocean did a good job of beating me up—it's a mighty powerful thing, that Pacific Ocean. The day consisted of getting pummeled by waves and constantly fighting the current, but every now and then, I would catch a wave right and get up on the board. That was a good feeling—I had a blast. Thanks, Hallie and Mario… my world has been rocked.
We met a friend named Lou through Surfriders who got us involved in a really great event in Eureka. The Northern California Intertribal Gathering and Elders Dinner was last Saturday and we were able to help out. They have a dinner every year to honor the elders—we helped with serving and cleaning up the meal. We got to enjoy some traditional dancing, talk with some great folks, and eat delicious salmon—a good day.
We have had some great reunions with friends here in Eureka. Lisa, a friend we worked with in Big Pine Key at the Institute for Regional Conservation—our first volunteer project of the journey—was here in Eureka. It was great to see her in the opposite corner of the country! Also, our friends Ben and Sam from back home happened to be here in this part of the world. It has been really great to see familiar faces for the first time in quite a while.
The best part of our visit here in Eureka has been our wonderful hosts, Jennifer and Chuck. We never even planned to spend much time here—expected to stay for a maybe a couple days. On our way through Crescent City, Chuck called us and invited us out for a cup of coffee. They said that we should call them when we head south to Eureka—that we could stay with them if we wanted to. We took them up on the offer, and we have been living at their home now for almost a week. They have been doing a good job of spoiling us, that's for sure. Jennifer has cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us every day, and it is not your average food. She is an amazing cook and she is making it hard to leave… everything I have eaten since arriving here has been delicious. They have been letting us use their VW beetle to zip around town in. It's quite nice to have a dinghy to cruise around in and leave the mothership parked for a while. Chuck has been helping us out with our new project—building a three person bicycle. He has a welder and a good engineering brain that has come in handy. Overall, the Eureka visit has been unforgettable thanks to these two. Thanks for everything!
As of now, we are sticking with our traditional method of not planning too far ahead. We know we want to spend some time in San Francisco, and that's about it. So… I'm not sure what the future holds, but I have gotten used to that feeling over the last ten months. Our flight from southern California is a short four weeks away and I'm getting pretty excited for a Christmas visit back to the mitten! Life is good.
