I love the feeling of coming home again after an adventure.  I appreciate every little detail of my life with a new perspective.  We left on a Friday in March and made the 4 o’clock ferry to Port Angeles.  We drove down west of Portland outside a little mountain town called Vernonia to camp for the night.  There was definitely something in the woods.  Luckily we build a bunk in the van and felt pretty safe all cozy in there.

The next day we got over to the coast through hwy 6 to Tillamook, a place famous for their cheese, and drove an hour or so before deciding to stay on the beach at Pacific City.  You can still drive down on the beach there, so we had a fire, did some fun bushwhacking for wood, and played ball with River and Sage against the clay cliffs.  In the morning we had breakfast at a local café and met a few friendly old boys, Dick and Bill, as displayed on their coffee mugs.  From there we headed down the coast to Coos Bay-the coast of Oregon is so spectacular-and we spent the night at a cheap motel.

Day 4 we made it into California to Jedidiah Park in the Redwoods.  We camped at the campground under some beautiful giants next to the river.  It reminded me of home except the forest was full of old growth trees.  We camped next to a family driving a big rig who had 3 yr old twins, a boy and a girl. They were friendly and real, reminding me of us.  We played guitar by the fire and drank cheap American lite beer.

The next day we had a hard time paying the $35 (American) fee to sleep in our van. Especially when the volunteer ranger told us he grew up in those parts and really didn’t care about the trees! We finally decided and hoped the money would go back into the park and preservation of the beautiful forest.  This moral dilemma and delay brought us to Stout Grove at just the right time to meet a nice family whom we hope to meet again and take out on an island adventure. And we found a Go Pro!

From there we headed south to Prairie Creek state park on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Pkwy and then onto the Avenue of the Giants in Humbolt County.  There we found our cabin.  It felt like my Grandma’s house in Newfoundland.  Built in the ‘20’s I believe, family owned and operated by 3 generations; The Redcrest Resort.  We stayed for 2 nights and that was our most relaxing time.  The next day I had a long walk and chat with Mother Nature about acceptance, fertility, and god.  We made a few good meals in our country kitchen, had warm showers and even slept in beds!  We walked in different groves of the grandfathers of trees and I picked up a few redwood cones to bring home.  They are surprisingly small for one of the world’s largest tree species!  My wish is to plant them in the ground when we buy our land and watch them grow over the years.

We reluctantly left when the forecast called for snow and made our way back up north.  Originally we were going to get on the I5 but decided doing the 101 coastal hwy again as it is well worth the extra time of serenity and relaxation.  We camped out during a massive thunder, lightning and hail storm one night and as wonderfully powerful as a good ole coastal storm is, we decided to pool together the rest of our dollars to eat pizza and find another room for our final night.  It seemed that every pizza shop we saw on the drive down went out of business in the 2 days we spent in the forest, but we ended up at the perfect place, an old school pizza joint in Rainier called Luigi’s.  Their pizza was fantastic, prices were very reasonable and they even had toys for Riv.  While I was playing with him, an older man came in to gamble a few dollars and order spaghetti to go.  Before he left he said that when he saw us playing it warmed his heart.  It reminded him of his son, whom he waited to have until he was 33 so he could ‘get it figured out’ and that he loved those years with him so much.  His son is 39 now, but he said the more you put into them, the more you get out of them.  We drove as far as Hoodsport in Washington and stayed at Glenayr resort, the room was much more than we expected, also for a reasonable price.  We had a few beers once Riv went down and reminisced on our trip.  We made the 2 o’clock ferry the next day and just like that, we were back on the island.  I chatted with a few fellow travellers on the ferry, riding from Eugene Oregon to Ladysmith.  We had a moment of fellowship on being from the east coast and how much we miss the friendliness of strangers from back home.

We were all conflicted with emotions of resisting coming home to routine and reality, and yearning for the comforts of our own familiars.  Even Riv cried when he woke from his nap to see we were home and couldn’t decide whether he wanted to come in the front door or get back in the van.  A kid after my own heart.  One more year going by and still we adventure on.  It is a beautiful life.