Redwoods National Park

 Sunday January 7th 2024

We drove north on Highway 101 to Redwoods National and State Park.

https://www.nps.gov/redw/index.htm

We had already seen some off the gigantic redwoods as we drove south from Oregon on Highway 101 the previous week and wanted to see more. We went to the visitor center to get information and then  drove along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway which was a one way ten mile drive with small pull off areas for trail heads. There was one dog friendly hike but as Morgan still seemed off color we decided to just enjoy the drive and we stopped on the road to make a truck coffee and gaze up at the trees. 

We then went to see the Big Tree who is 1500 years old! With it being January and bad weather we had the area to ourselves. 

We also saw the resident family of Roosevelt Elk who on the way in were snoozing but on the return journey were a bit more active.

Getting our National Park stamp for our visitors book

Got a t-shirt!

The tree we stopped next to doesn't look that big........

......it was huge. The photos do not show just how enormous the trees are.

Wow, John is teeny tiny.

Arcata, California

 Saturday 6th January 2024

John watched Sunderland v Newcastle football game which was a huge match. Unfortunately Sunderland lost badly. To cheer him up we went to Arcata, a town 22 miles south of us. We had a recommendation for a good second hand book store so that was enough reason to go check out the town. 

As we were driving around the town once again on the search for parking that Dave the truck would fit into in we passed a farmers market, in January! Once we got parked we enjoyed a walk around the market that was set around the town square borders. Seeing lots of vegan items and the locals looking very hippy we decided we had at last found our people! The granolas! 

The book store, Tin Can Mailman, was a great store jam packed with books and we enjoyed a good mooch.

https://www.tincanbooks.com/

After the bookstore we had a coffee and went into a health food style supermarket and bought a few things though it was pretty expensive. The town was very nice and had a lot of resources probably as it has a college. There were a lot of homeless hanging around the square which is always very tough to see.

North Coast Co-op great weigh your own section

The town painted their fire hydrants

Arcata would be the type of town we could see ourselves settling near. Good shopping, beaches and countryside all within easy distances. The downside is its California so very high property prices and taxes along with restrictions on what we could do if we wanted to build or make changes. Also the weather is not great, the weather does not improve until late May early June and it only gets to 75F. The rest of the year is very very wet and grey. 

Agate Beach and Google Timeline

 Thursday January 4th 2024

Wow, how am I  typing 2024? 2023 went by in a blink.

I have Google Location History activated and they sent me a breakdown of our 2023. We know we have traversed the country but seeing it on the map and how many cities we have visited is so cool. I wonder what 2024 map look like?

Morgan, our dog, has been having a lot of off days when she really does not want to walk any distances. You take her for a walk but after completing her ablutions she turns around and drags us back to the rv. She isn't ill, we are thinking she is not liking the cold temperatures and she is 10 now and maybe it's a combination of both. 

Thursday was one of those days. Since I was all wrapped up and ready for a walk I returned her to the rv and decided to head off on my own. As I was dogless I was able to enjoy the Sue Meg State Park trails and beach and I had a great 4.5 mile hike to Agate Beach. I had a nice time on my own though not sure my legs liked the very steep steps and path up and down to the beach. I also feel a lot safer walking with a dog so I make sure to keep to open areas when I am on my own.