feeling humble in humboldt county

From Mendocino, we drove north to Humboldt County.  

Since we'd been "Boon Docking" the past several days at Susan's home, and then George's home - in the words of cousin Eddie, the shitter was full!  As we learned in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, dumping the contents of a chemical toilet down a storm drain is not an acceptable environmental, nor social, practice - so we opted to find an RV park with full hook-ups, which refers to water, electric, and a dump station at each individual campsite.   

Using Park Advisor, we found the quaint Elk Country RV Resort in Trinidad, California.  Aptly named because of the elk that roam through the campsite.  Or, rather, the campsite that is situated in the middle of the elk roaming grounds.   

We didn't see any elk when we first arrived at 6 PM, but they sure showed up en masse early the next morning, as observed through the window during my 6:00 AM conference call.  

WOW! There they are!!   

While we suspected that we were close to the coast, we didn't realize just how close - until William and I rode our bicycles with Elizabeth on a run. 

We arrived just in time for a beautiful sunset over the Pacific. 

As was the case in so many places we visited this summer, we were the only ones there. 

At which point their mother is contemplating staying on the road forever.... 

We only stayed at the campground one night, but before we left the area, we took all of the kids back to the beach. The massive driftwood along the Northern California coast is incredible. 

Considering the proximity to the giant redwood forests, it makes sense.

A short jaunt up the road from Trinidad, we went to Redwood National Park. 

Getting off the beaten path, we took a road through the park and were in AWE at the majestic towering trees that have have flourished in this area for thousands of years. 

Groves and groves of trees.  

MASSIVE, BEAUTIFUL TREES! 

When they fall - they nourish the earth for more majestic trees to grow.  They are washed down rivers, churned in the ocean surf, and wind up on beaches as the perfect smoothed perch to contemplate our very existence.   

How incredibly perfect is this network of life! 

We looked inside a tree that had fallen, and tried to confirm the age by counting rings, but gave up after 33.  We'll trust the dendrologists to age date these giants that have stood the test of time: enduring fires, earthquakes, all kinds of weather, encroaching civilization, and bugs.  

We had somewhat of a schedule to keep, so needed to push on. But I definitely could have stayed in this area a lot longer, and continued philosophizing about the earth, time, life and our place in it. 

I'll be back.  

With my hammock ... and an additional 200 feet of rope to reach around the trees.  

mendo

From Auburn, we continued our drive north up the coast to Mendocino County.  The road to the town of Fort Bragg is a bit curvy and when you're towing a 27-foot camper, it can make for a serious white-knuckled adventure.

At this point on the drive, we were praying that the brakes didn't suddenly give out....

Charlie's brother, George, has lived in Mendocino for the past 30 years and it is a spectacularly beautiful area along the Northern California coast.

George is a custom cabinet maker and incredibly talented woodworker.  He is currently living in a house that has breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.

There has been a bit of erosion on the cliffs around his home in recent years and while the house is safe to live in - it has rendered one side of the house unsafe to walk around.  Henry's looking out the bedroom window on that side of the home -  which had me mesmerized as a geologist, and slightly terrified as the mother of a rambunctious 12-year old.

This is the view from the upstairs bathroom window. Gloria, Gloria Hallelujah!!  

I might never leave the bathroom.

This is the view from George's back patio at sunrise ... I set up my laptop at 5:00 AM and was able to work for several hours while the sky became progressively lighter.   When I took a Zoom call from this location at 6:00 AM, none of my colleagues believed that my background was actually my REAL background.  I'm still in awe over this view!

This is the view from George's back patio at sunset.  

This is the view of Quarantinny in George's front yard, where we thought about staying for the next forever years.

And this is a view from inside George's house where the family had a jam session one night. George plays bass with a band in his spare time, and has quite the assortment of guitars.  Charlie brought a small travel guitar with him on the trip - William brought his ukulele - Liz had her Cajon drum - Henry was on the bongos, and Gracie had her beautiful vocals.   Which she didn't use because MOM! STOP! I'M NOT SINGING! 

This is a better picture of George trying to tune Liz's guitar.  He's a super cool cat.

We stayed in Mendocino for three glorious nights and had the opportunity to take a beautiful hike along the mosquito-rich Big River Road. The mosquitos didn't get too bad until we realized we had packed our sunscreen instead of bug spray. 

We also spent a day hiking along the coast.  

And exploring the beautiful outcrops of graywacke along the beach.

All of these rock formations present in the water off the coast, which extend nearly 1000 miles, are part of the California Marine Conservation Area and Sanctuary.    It was awesome to get close and be able to examine some of the structures up close, when the tide went out.

We also dropped in to Glass Beach ... 

Which as the name would suggest, was comprised entirely of glass.

Handfuls of brightly colored sea glass! 

We dined out for a wonderful seafood lunch in town ...

And had the opportunity to meet our newest cousin, the adorable Sylvan - son of Crescent and Lucy (George's daughter); and baby brother to 3-year old Orla.

It was wonderful to see everyone, but with COVID we really kept our distance.  Which was probably for the best because I'd want to hold on to this little one .... 

Tighter than he was holding on to his dad's microbrew beer!  

the golden state

We made our way through Nevada and crossed in to California six days after starting our trek.  On Friday, we dropped in to the beautiful Lake Tahoe area, situated high in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Charlie and I went on one of our first dates to Lake Tahoe - a ski trip in 1991 - when I was so smitten with my geology club president future husband, that I literally flipped head over heals on my skis and wound up on crutches for 10 days.   He was so darn cute.  He still is ... especially when he gets to enjoy a California chicken burrito, his number one all-time favorite food.

We traversed the infamous Donner Pass and tried to imagine the brutality of conditions that those early settlers - migrating from Springfield, Illinois experienced in the winter of 1846-1847.  See the ledge that the statue is perched upon?  That's how much snow fell in that fateful October that they wound up getting trapped in this area.  Of the 81 that began the journey, only 45 survived.  It's incomprehensible, really.   This stop was a very good reminder to count our blessings for being born in this space - and time.

Our arrival in California was impeccable and fortuitously coincided with Charlie's sister, Susan's birthday.  From Lake Tahoe, it was a short drive to her and her husband, Jeff's, home in Auburn.

We got there just in time for cake ... well played Captain Charlie - well played!

This was our first experience in close proximity to any one outside of our family since we've been quarantined in March, and there was definite concern about being close to each other.

We conducted our own internal risk assessments and determined that since we've been extremely careful - and they've been extremely careful, the potential for exposure was low.  In fact - this was our first interaction with anyone outside of our immediate family since February, aside from grocery clerks.  Since it's now been three weeks since we've seen each other, and everyone is still doing well, I believe we're thankfully, still in the clear.

We also saw Charlie's best friend from high school.  Roger was the best man in our wedding in 1994 and whenever the two of them get together - regardless of how much time has passed - they pick up from where they last left off.  It's really awesome to have an old friend with so much history.

The kids are more dialed in to the news than I have been on this trip, and are keen to tell us everyday the current statistics of COVID.   Its almost hard to remember that we're in the middle of a pandemic, but when I hear that the numbers are trending in the wrong direction - especially in Texas - it reminds us that this is not something to be taken lightly.

So we're doing our best to be very careful - limit our exposure to others - keep our hands clean - don't touch our face - and wear our masks whenever we're out and about. 

Including when we stop by In-N-Out!