NorCal

After Oakland, we headed north to the motherland of hippiedom: Humbolt County. 

But first we stopped off for a quick visit in Vacaville with my Aunt Dorothy and Lyle, who were kind enough to host us for a late breakfast. I'm so glad they got to meet the girls, and it was awesome hearing about Aunt Dorothy's love of backpacking and her adventures around the Sierra Nevadas and American West. 

Rob and Delores' amazing house up a mountain in the redwoods. This house is the stuff of dreams! The property encourages wildlife (like the pond they built that local salamanders made their home) and respects their space and right to thrive (there was bear poop in the yard when we arrived), while also providing R & D a comfortable and modern lifestyle (complete with wifi and a hot tub). 

They have the skeleton of an immature grey whale displayed over the front door of the house. Rob's friend found it, almost fully decomposed, on a nearby beach and he said they spent the whole night digging it up before the tide came in again. The whole house is filled with hundreds of incredible natural and cultural wonders that they have found or purchased on their travels around the world. A few things that come to mind are: a 3 foot tortoise shell, a tapir skull, dozens and dozens of exotic succulents and carnivorous plants, fossils, geodes and other beautiful rocks and minerals, not to mention art pieces and textiles from Africa, South America, and Asia. R & D love to travel and, as as he said it, "Find the weirdest places we can and fully immerse ourselves in them."

When I was in middle school, we took an epic family trip to California and stayed with Rob & Del. Coming from the suburbs of Houston, it blew my mind to see and experience their outdoor, active, and adventure-based lifestyle (traveling, paddling, surfing, and caving are just a few examples). We went on a hike in Redwoods National Park called Fern Canyon, where the sheer walls were completely covered in ferns. I credit that hike with sparking my love of hiking, so it was an awesome experience to complete the circle and take my own kids there with Rob and Del. S&P were in heaven splashing through the cool clear creek and yelling, "This place is a wonderland!"

A bit of perspective to see how high the canyon walls are. If you zoom in you can see Mike & P walking through the canyon. 

S was in adventure mode, finding all kinds of cool things including a banana slug and an oyster mushroom. Turns out banana slugs love to eat oyster mushrooms, which we discovered when she put them on the same leaf together and the slug started chowing down. 

Rob is a retired high school science teacher, and told us that one of his students' favorite things to do on field trips was lick banana slugs because they excrete something that has numbing properties. We weren't sure if he was just messing with us, but I had to find out. It's true! 

After the hike we had a picnic on the beach and caught a glimpse of a seal or sea lion swimming in the surf. 

On the way home from Redwood NP, we stopped to take a short hike to a beautiful view of the coast. 

Our time at Rob & Delores' was too short, but I'm confident we'll be back in a few years when the kids are a little bit older for more adventures and outdoor lifestyle indoctrination. For now, on to camp with Mia & Terry in Southern Washington!