The Not Exciting Vacation Post.

Prior to the near fisticuffs recounted in my last post, the vacation was going really, really well. Lots of R&R and doing stuff and seeing stuff I had never seen before.

Four Wheeling

On Monday of that week, Matt and "The Dick" Arlyn loaded up Matt's supercharged turbo V8 truck of doom, hitched a trailer loaded with 4x4's and took off for the fireroads above the Shasta Dam. The mountains are only about 20 or so minutes outside of Redding, so its just a bit of a drive and then all of a sudden, every turn of the road is a vista. 199 from Redding to Eureka is like that. Just beautiful. Now, I love the Catskills and New England, but I get a bigger sense of vitality out of there. Like I was saying, we went 4 wheeling. I'd gone once before with Clarisa and Matt on a short trip, but this was a loooong ass trip. Gone in the morning, back in evening, 60 miles over fire trails type of trip.

Driving the damn thing was a pain in the ass. For some reason, I thought I should sit back on it with my legs out in front of me slightly. Well, the damn thing is drifted on me and the steering was all light. I could not imagine these things being so hard to control. As luck would have it, we hit a couple of downhill slopes that pulled me forward into more of a motorcycle position that I kept when I finally came off the very steep slope that I locked the rear brake up on and slid sideways toward the cliff on (not a fun moment, but definitely memorable). Once I found that position, things were so much easier.

Anyhow as we made our way up, it just got prettier and prettier. At our furthest destination, we were on the top of some peak, and as best I could tell, Shasta lake was southeast of us and waaaay down and to the west were what Matt called the Trinity Alps. Not sure if that's a local name or not, but they were huge and far away and half covered in snow. Where we were, there was just a smidge of snow here and there - and we were high up, around six thousand feet. On the way back we had to turn on our reserve tanks with about an hours worth of riding left. The quote of the day came from Matt, "I'm almost 50% confident that we will make it back." But we did, probably by the skin of our teeth too.

To the Coast

Two days later we headed out for the coast, driving along 199 from Redding to Eureka. Vista. Vista. Vista. Vista. About 10 miles or so from the actual coast, the skies grew overcast and you could smell moisture in the air. As we came out of the mountains a few farms appeared. Cows were grazing in lush long grass and a light fog covered everything, especially along Arcata Bay. Once in town, the first thing we did was head to the Samoa CookHouse, an old lumbermill chow hall that's been converted into a familty style dining place. Its the type of place where the food is brown, hot, and there is lots of it. The waitress who served us was overweight, weathered and cheerful. I had the feeling she had not seen a lot, but what she had seen, she'd seen a lot of. A few diners in NY near here have her type, but not many.

Belly's full, we drove Matt's truck out onto the beach. Coming from NY, this was a real novelty. Anywhere I have ever been, trucks on the beach aren't allowed. Or if they are, its a college type crazy thing. Out there though, there were a few trucks here and there, none very close to each other. The tide was coming in and pushing piles of kelp up the beach. I was not going not go into the water after coming all this way. It would be a waste, freezing ass cold or not. For starters I just kicked off my shoes and rolled up my pants and strode in.

Oh shit was that cold. No swimming for JimmyBoy, no matter how far he'd come. Still though, there were surfers out there. They were down the beach to north a half mile or so. Right in front of me and to my left was a huge jetty built to protect the bay entrance. At the end of it there was a pile of huge cement structures that looked like God had scattered some of his jacks there. The opposing jetty to the south was covered with the same structures, but from a distance they looked like a huge grave site.

While we puttered around there I saw a sea lion and a bunch of starfish while I walked out onto the jetty, beyond the chain and sign that was spray painted, "LA FAGS GO HOME". Anyhoo, undeterred by the sign, not being from LA or a fag, I ventured out more. Eventually I found a starfish on top of the jetty, half dead. It must have been a big ass wave that hit to have brought it that far in and that high. Not really wanting to see it bake in the hazy sun, I pried it off the cement and tossed it back in. Either it lived or it died and became a meal. Either way I figure I helped something out.

Another curious site on the beach in Eureka were the small sand dunes, covered in flowers and plants and overtaking the WWII bunkers that had been installed there. You don't think about it much, and laugh at it in the movie "1941", but California was really terrified and serious about protecting itself and the nation from a Japanese invasion. From what I read on the plaques out there, lots of subs were spotted and destroyed. In NY, if you tried riding a 4 wheeler through the dunes in the Hamptons, I think you might get lynched. Things are definitely more relaxed out there.

The strangest site while out there - Arlyn pissing on a WWII bunker. Freaking surreal.

Once done with the coast, we drove up it. We got to see the "Goonies" rocks and more gorgeious views as we made our way up the coast into Crescent City and into the Redwood Forest.

Redwoods

Big. Trees. Wow. I had no idea. And aside from genetics, I guess the fog that's always there really nourishes them and lets them get big. They can live to be 2000 years old. Wow. Thank god we protected them, or at least most of them.

The big surprise came when we hit the coast drive in the Redwood National Forest. Aside from seeing this just absoloutely stunning view of the Pacific coast with its primordial forest, high bluffs, rocks and beach...we saw whales. About 6 or so of them. Huge black and mottled with spots making there way up the coast about 300 yards offshore. A little Internet research makes me think they were Gray whales, but they might have been Humpbacks. Regardless, I'd never seen a whale in the wild, and for just us to see them right then and there was striking.

I remember looking at the whales, looking to the south down the coast and seeing just one of the most spectular views I'd ever seen and just waiting. I just stood there for a bit, soaking it all in and waiting. Waiting for some sort of intimation. A further sign. Nothing came though. Just me and that view for just right then. A place I could not stay but will forever stay with me.

From there we drove up into Oregon to meet up with I-5 in Grants pass. I guess we were not too far from Portland. Maybe another trip.