And then: a grey whale in a river… July 31, 2011

07.21.11 - NW California to SW Oregon

We awoke early in Arcata to a haze of fog and began our journey north up the coast. Moonstone beach was as magnificent as the name sounds. It was impossible to tell where the fog ended and the white sand beach began.

We spent some time wandering around, checking out the tide pools, entranced by the eerie atmosphere created by the fog. Hours went by as we then cruised slowly up the coast stopping at every beach on the way. Eventually the fog cleared and we received some even more exquisite views.

Our first major stop for the day for some hiking was in Prairie Canyon State Park. We were promised by our Couchsurfer the night before that we would see Elk, and wouldn’t you know it, we got the royal treatment with no less than 15 elk cows and bucks along the beach. It was astounding getting close and snapping photos, taking in their full majesty. I didn’t even know we had elk in California!

The hike we then embarked on took us through a stunning canyon covered wall to wall in flowing ferns and wispy waterfalls. It was a great little hike.

We left the park particularly satisfied in all we’ve seen already today. As we drove we discussed the possibilities for camping tonight when we came to a bridge covered in people looking excitedly over the edge. At first we assumed people were merely excited about the view of the wide river, though it did not seem particularly astounding. I then spied a spout shoot out of the water, and reconsidered that theory. We parked and walked back to discover a grey whale and her baby had managed to swim upriver from the ocean outlet and was now swimming back and forth under the bridge. They may have come in at high tide and gotten caught in the river.

After plenty of time spent in awe of this creature, we got back in the car and soon hit the Oregon border. The evening ended viewing a gorgeous sunset behind a lighthouse on a hill near our campsite.

07.22.11 – Eugene Bound

The trip along the Oregon coast to Bend was more and more beauty. Along the way we turned off into an ultra-cute little port town named Bandon. We enjoyed some kitschy shops, crab sandwich and clam chowder, wandered the docks, grabbed some toffee and headed out.

We arrived in Eugene to our college friend Christina’s house in the afternoon. She rents a room in an amazing house with a huge garden in a neighborhood so choked by plants you feel you are still in the woods while walking the streets. For the evening we went with some of her friends to a bluegrass show with the aptly named “Water Tower Bucket Boys” who are really just four hipsters dressed in olde tyme clothes, playing olde tyme music. It was surprisingly fun, some good beer and dancing was enjoyed by all. The night ended with a long walk home late at night with the streets still bustling with bicyclists and tipsy party-goers.

More to come about Eugene and our journey to Bend, Portland, Seattle and beyond. It is a great trip thus far, sorry I am a tad behind in writing, there is simply so much to do!

As always the pictures we take can be found in our Flickr albums at:

http://flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets

Post 101: A new journey begins… July 24, 2011

Well, it’s been nearly a year since the last time I logged into WordPress to keep up the Central America blog. As it turns out, through years of travels, we have posted exactly 100 posts until now! It’s time again for our yearly adventure, this time perhaps less adventurous compared to our previous travels; I am sure to the relief of parents who will need not concern themselves over malaria, muggings, terrorist attacks, , snake bites, drowning, rabies, shark attack, leprosy, cerebral edemas, bubonic plague, and the wide variety of hazards we are usually susceptible to along our journeys. This time we have planned a month exploring swaths of western and mid-western United States with a hint of Canada! There may be some grizzlies and mountain lions to battle as well as those vicious Canadian hockey hooligans, but for the most part, it should be a pretty easy-going, fun-filled road trip. Let Dave & Jessica’s great adventure of 2011 BEGIN!

07.18.11 – Mendocino

Sakura desperately did not want us to go! We physically had to drag her out of the car back into the house as we prepared to leave. That last look she gave us was heart crushing, but she will be in the good hands of our close friend Andrea. It was an easy three hour ride up to Redwood Valley in Mendocino. I did manage to send Jessica driving 20 minutes in the wrong direction, but no big deal, I need to shake the rust off those famous navigation skills of mine.

We pulled into the Frey vineyards where our college friend Molly lives with her adorable son Osiris, her husband Daniel, and Daniels huge family! By huge I mean 1,000 acres of property filled with countless relatives, goats, cows, chickens, lambs, vegetables, orchards, and of course grape vines. Our stay consisted of hiking with the goats to pasture, chopping veggies, exploring the numerous nooks and crannies of the property, playing with Osiris, squeezing goat nipples, and hanging out with the unpaid farmhands (young WOOFers who stay for free on organic farms around the world in exchange for labor; like Couchsurfing, but dirtier).

One of our favorite parts of the experience was Lamby. Lamby is a lamb who thinks he is a dog. The moment he sees you his whole body wags and he comes leaping towards you like a cheerful puppy. When lamby is fed nightly via goat nipples (no other sheep to feed lamby) he enters a state of pure euphoria, and walks around like he is completely stoned out of his skull. Watching this is hysterical!

07.19.11 – Mendocino to Arcata

After a huge breakfast of omelettes made from last nights egg harvest and a fond farewell to our new and old friends we hit the road again. The trip up to Arcata was beautiful, the most eventful portion of the trip through the Avenue of Giants. We drove as slow as possible to fully take in the surrounding beauty and the majesty of the worlds tallest and some of the oldest trees, the tallest at 360ft+ and the oldest recorded tree at 2,200 years! We spent hours hiking through trails surrounded on all sides by these beautiful red sentinels, a truly serene experience.

The rest of our trip was easy, a bit of the Bossypants audiobook and some pretty scenery later and we were in the cute, sleepy town of Eureka and then into Arcata just north. We soon met up with our Couchsurfeing host Brittany. We all went together for some greasy dinner at a bar, then to a Brewery we are quite fond of in this area: Lost Coast Brewery. The sun went down as we walked and talked through the upscale wharf district of Eureka, then back home we went for some well deserved sleep.

07.20.11 – Arcata

Arcata is a cute, small town, nestled between huge redwood forests and a stunning coastline. It is most famous for the predominance of its Green Party politics, counterculture mentality, disc golf, marijuana, and Humboldt State University; all of which go pretty much hand in hand. We spent the day exploring its many nooks and crannies. The campus is very reminiscent of Santa Cruz (our Alma Matter in case you weren’t aware), although a more petite version. We spent a big chunk of the day hiking through its very impressive redwood park.

In the park we came across many wondrous things including a 9-hole disc golf course. Like regular golf, the premise is to get one object from point A to a resting place at point B. Unlike golf it is played with various sized discs, is thrown into a chain net with a holding cage, you don’t have to wear goofy clothes, and it is free! The course was very pretty, filled with natural hazards like blackberry bushes, and poison oak as opposed to sand traps and waterways. We would have loved to play, but had no equipment. We then came across this one particularly inebriated gentlemen complaining that he was having trouble finding where each hole began.

We then went and explored more Humboldt campus. Pretty, though we wish it weren’t summer, it would be much more entertaining to see the students moving about the campus. After a quick lunch of leftover noodles we drove out to the Mad River Brewing Company a couple small cities over in blue lakes. The tasting platter was great, particularly the refreshing Pale Ale, and the Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout!

Then we headed back to the coast to Trinidad where we walked along some glorious beaches and appreciated the terrific weather, sunny, but with a constant cool breeze; perfect!

Back to one more brewery for a sampler. The Six Rivers Brewery had some fruity beers which we actually quite enjoyed, unusual for us beer snobs. They also had a nice wheat and porter. Yum.

Then to town for some grocery shopping. We made our host some of our world famous Quesodillas and Pico de Gallo, chatted for a bit and went to sleep.

Well that’s the first blog for the month. Hope you enjoyed it. As always we upload only our best pictures to our Flickr site. I will often post pictures before writing the blog. Here is the site in case you forgot:

http://www.flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets