Day 3 - Northern California

So as it turns out pictures take a long time to load when you're sharing Internet with 30 other people. Hopefully we'll be able to find some bandwidth soon so we can share some of the great photos that Zach is taking with you (none of my photos are great or worth sharing).

In English class when I learned how to write the perfect paragraph, the first sentence was supposed to sum up everything else to come -- so here it goes:

Today we left our beloved Oregon and traveled down into California where we saw lots of big trees and the Pacific Ocean, ate the rest of our Thanksgiving leftovers, and opened the bag of Baked Cheetos [Thanks, Leola].

We drove south on the 101 through Brookings, OR and into California. We made many stops to ogle the beauty of the coast. As it turns out, it's pretty freaking gorgeous (again, you'll see pictures soon).

Continuing on the 101 we arrived in Crescent City to pick up maps and info on the California Redwoods National and State Park. Turns out people are right -- those trees, they're big, and pretty, but mostly big. We took Howland Hill Road through the Jebediah Smith Redwoods State Park, stopping to eat lunch. Then we went in search of the illusive (is that the right "illusive?" Or is it "elusive?") Boy Scout Tree. The hike was roughly 6 miles out and back -- about halfway in we came across a man who tipped us off that the trail would split into right and left forks -- we should take the right one to stay on trail, otherwise we'd wind up in a ravine. We thought he was a fuddy duddy.

We then came across a beautiful ravine. Oops. Seeing as we'd been hiking for a little over and hour (with stops for pictures), we decided to head back out -- we never did find the 22-ft diameter Boy Scout Tree (this is it), but we saw a lot of other big trees.

After our hike, we continued on through Klamath, whose entrance is guarded by these guys.

We checked out a climbing venue which we may come back to tomorrow (we're taking a layover day) and continues down Coastal Drive to meet back up with the 101. We now find ourselves in Arcata, pretty pooped, hungry, and missing a lot of you.

What's next? Here's a quick breakdown of our the next few weeks -- any of you are welcome to join for all parts -- we're flexible. You commit to dates, we commit to dates.

11/30 Layover in Arcata
12/1 - 12/2 Arcata to Fort Bragg
12/2 (Happy Birthday Courtney) - 12/4 San Francisco
12/4 - 12/8 Sacramento
12/8 - 12/9 Lake Tahoe
12/9 - 12/11 Bishop
12/11 - 12/13 Las Vegas
12/14 Somewhere in between Vegas and Phoenix
12/15 - 12/17 Phoenix
12/17 - 12/18 El Paso
12/18 - 12/20 Getting to Houston (maybe a stop in San Antonio??)

Lastly -- more than a handful of you wondered how spending 6-9 months in a car with the same person would play out. Well, I can't really tell you. BUT, I can tell you about how spending 3 days in a car with same person, namely Zach, played out. A few insights for those of you who care about the less scenic going-ons of our trip:

Reasons I appreciated Zach today -

1. He managed to re-pack the car (Again) and fit our entire bedroll and blanket up top, freeing up valuable space in the cab for more important things like the 3 jackets I apparently need since my body cannot regulate its own heat.
2. He praised me for my brilliant my camping suggestions, though right now as I am thinking of them, I cannot think of one that I would not be embarrassed to share with you because they really aren't that brilliant.
3. He had dance party with me this morning while we broke down camp (Sharon will appreciate this).
   
4. He apparently just found us a place to camp tonight, which is good, because otherwise we were going to have to sleep in the car in Arcata.
5. He agreed to go on the Boy Scout Tree hike with me instead of skipping it to go climbing and put up with me asking if every large tree was "The Boy Scout Tree."
   

Reasons I did not appreciate Zach today -

1. As of this moment, he has not brushed his teeth today (gross).
2. He put a pair of dirty underwear in my bath bag (gross).
3. He tried to serve me pie (which I would have TOTALLY appreciated) that he had let soak in ice chest water (gross).
4. He would not let me stop outside of Brookings at this farm to take pictures of the multiple taxidermied (I don't know the right word) horses out front (he hates me).

So -- so far I appreciate Zach more than I do not appreciate him.

Lessons for the day -

• We need more than 1 gallon of water a day for two people and a dog.
• We should know where we're staying (or at least have a good plan) by 10 am on the current day.
• We should stop to take pictures of any farm with taxidermied horses out front.

Love all of you.

P & Z