Big City Na Na

Alcatraz

Bay Bridge - San Francisco

Bay Bridge - San Francisco

After miles and miles of towns ranging from 50 to 1000 people, we have finally landed in the heart of San Francisco. Big city though it may be, we have a few skilled tour guides for our foray into the concrete jungle. First stop - Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Milt's house in Walnut Creek. When you think of Jon and Dana rolling up in a fifth wheel RV with a giant black dog, the image that you conjure up should be something like this picture of Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

We're pretty classy that way. Jeanne and Milt have showered us (literally - and oh the simple pleasures of a hot shower) with abundant hospitality. Frisco is definitely Milt's town - having grown up right on the dock of the bay with all all the Italian kids and celebrities like Houdini living right up the street. He gave us a tour of the city that proved even a subaru can be in the grand prix.

Milt and Jeanne's house in Walnut Creek is located just a 5 min walk from an enourmous reserve with all kinds of wildlife. Raccoons, deer, hordes of waild tukeys, possums, skunks, egrets, and more make their way into backyards regularly. The area is a slice of paradise in the big city. I ran for two hours and never crossed my same path. Bailey was hot on the trail of every ground squirrel in the vicinity. I actually lost him for the first time since he was a puppy. I realized that he had gotten confused on the return trip and headed back the way we had come from. I followed his giant paw prints in the mud all the way (2 miles) back to the house (smart dog!) He probably thought I was lost!

I've been loving up on the sourdough bread here - it's not just a clever marketing ploy! The bread has this extra dimension of heartiness and chewyness that makes all other bread pale in comparison. I'm currently on the hunt for a sourdough starter ("baby") that I can use to make my own sourgdough bread. I'm not saying that I will come anywhere near to competing with the masters, but my first ever from-scratch whole wheat loaves turned out well enough that I am determined to try.

I have also been sprouting mung beans lately. We actually have a sort of "garden" in the back of the passenger seat of the pick-up, hanging in th mesh compartment. It started off with just a jar of sprouts (maintenance on sprouts is pretty hard-core), but then a red-wood seedling was added, and finally a bunch of wildflowers. We have now placed the red-woods in the capable hands of Hallie in San Fran, and better yet, her roomate who specializes in the care of orchids. The mighty seedling would surely have perished in our hands.

I may have already mentioned that I've read more books in the last two months than in the last two years. I'm embarrassed to admit that I read Twilight and enjoyed it. I'm currently reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - a very interesting contrast. I have to highly recommend The Red Tent, The Art of Racing in The Rain, and A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing (which, though a good read, unfortunately contains no hunting and fishing tips)

On the way down the coast, we experienced some very heavy storms. Shortly after setting down the landing gear at a State Park, a park ranger came along to inform us that we may want to move camp because many of the trees were likely to fall that night. We continued on down the road to to a spot next to the beach to watch the storm roll in (maybe not the nest decision we ever made). Jon cleverly pointed us directly into the wind. Otherwise, we may have tipped over in the gale force winds. We didn't really sleep that night. Just lay there stiffly, counting the seconds between lightning and thunder and wincing when the count reduced to less than a mile away. The rain was pounding all night, and at one point, Jon got up to check outside. He burst back in with the news that there was a river flowing under us. At this point it was impossible to leave because if we didn't blow over on the beach, we surely would have on the cliffs of the road above. Somehow we survived the night, at which point, a ranger came by to tell us we should leave before the abnormally high tide rolled in. We were astonished to find large piles of heavy driftwood that had washed up along our tires that night.

The storm continued and we stopped along the road to check out the breakers. Fifteen foot waves (that's more than 2 Dana's tall!) were crashing into the shoreand spraying us at 40 feet above sea level! You could understand, watching all that power, how the myriads of fantastic geologic formations along the coast could have come to be.

As we were nearing San Francisco, we passed through several flooded zones, up to 18" on the roads. Grandpappy, down in Yuma Arizona, called to check and make sure I survived the big storm. Thankfully, it was just one more adventure on the road.

Flooding

Hwy 1. California

My wonderful friend Hallie had us over at her flat in Frisco. Hallie has been a wonderful hostess as well with a night out on the town, some karaoke, and late-night Boggle . Hallie lives on a hill that, while innoculously named 22nd st, rivals the Matterhorn in steepness. Everyone was parked sideways on the hill and I seriously thought that the truck would tip over and roll down the hill. You had to hold on when you opened the truck door, so that it's weight didn't drag you out. We watched people trying to walk up the hill and every single biker got off and walked. Hallie said she once dropped her cell phone, while on her way to her car, and it slid all the way down the hill. Wearing high heels on the hill was nearly impossible, but if you were pointed uphill in while wearing high heels, your toes would be comfortably at the same level as your heels. As Hallie's mom was leaving, her car wouldn't start because the gas gauge was registering empty, even at a quarter full, because of the extreme angle.

Mushroom Hunting

Humbolt county has treated us to an amazing display of it's ginormous redwoods and we have been thoroughly impressed. We actually got semi-lost strolling off-trail in the redwood park near Humboldt State University. Off-trail hiking is what Jon likes to call "adventuring" and it's the only way I have ever been able to convince him to go hiking. In this instance, we stumbled upon an actual cave that had been dug by a human into the hillside and had only game trails leading up to it.

We were so pleased to feel the sun's warmth in Arcata, that we spent half a day in the wildlife reserve sitting in lawnchairs painting (me) and drinking beers (Jon).

We continued down to the Lost Coast and the magical little town of Petrolia. The road to Petrolia went over a pass that was only 15 miles, but took us an hour and a half to cross. The roads were in excess of 15% grade and nearly every turn was a hairpin. On the way up, we crawled at a grueling 5-10 miles per hour - whispering sweet encouraging words to 'Ole Giddyup Go the whole way. The way down was actually worse because the brakes were in charge of stopping 12,000 lbs of truck, fifth wheel, and cargo with the same steep declines and ridiculously tight turns. We had to stop twice because the brakes were fading. Our only solace was that it was too dark to see the harrowingly steep cliffs on the side. Additionally, our slow-going meant that we ran out of gas much sooner and we're sure if we'd make it to more gas before it was too late. Jon has proven himself to be a very skilled driver. Coincidentally, the forest we were driving through is where Jurrasic Park was filmed.

We had to stay extra days in Petrolia because #1 everyone waved at us, #2 our campsite cost only $8/night, at the beach, with plenty of fresh water, #3 pelicans, seals, mussels and Lost Coast adventing at our doorstep, #4 goat farms, #5 "Dinner and Cabaret" at the local Petrolia Community Center, #6 Salmon River, #7 Daffodils were already popping up. Suffice it to say, I was looking into real estate in Petrolia, until I found out that they have earthquakes everyday because it is located in the Mendocino Triple Junction, where three fault lines meet - most seismically active town in America.

Jon and I hiked to the lighthouse on the Lost Coast trail and managed to bring back a few gypsy treasures, a pot, a giant abalone shell, a dive belt, and a pile of mussels. You know you've eaten a lot of mussels when you start eating them on chips with hummus or making them into pate (both delicious).

The beach also afforded us the opportunity to stretch out on a blanket and check out the glorious stars.

As a side note, I got word that someone is scamming my craigslist add for our house rental. Apparently, the scammer, who claims to be working in Africa, has been asking potential renters to send him $700 deposit and first month's rent for 9906 N. Ivanhoe St., claiming free firewood and a pool table is included, and that he will send a key. Not sure why anyone would be stupid enough to do this.

Turkey Tail

For those of you, unaware that Jon and I are avid mushroom hunters, one look at our 6 mason jars filled with dried chanterelles from this last fall's harvest will clue you in. Mushroom tip #1 Chanterelles aren't very good when dried - they are remeniscent of cup 'o noodles soup.

Recently we scored on the world renowned mushroom field guide All that the Rain Promises and More... (see cover below). This handy dandy field guide is written by the author of Mushrooms Demystified, a veritable bible of all things mushroom. We've been searching in redwoods, firs, and pines, hoping to stumble upon a giant motherlode of King Boletes, or Matsutakes. Instead, the only thing edible that we've found is the Toothed Jelly Fungus and the Fluted Black Elfin Saddle. Mushroom tip #2. Toothed Jelly Fungus is delicious mixed with cream and honey, otherwise, not tasty. Mushroom tip #3. Don't believe Jon simply when he says a mushroom is edible, even if he puts it in his mouth. In our searches, we have come across many other lovely types of mushrooms and even put some of our own names to them, if we can't find them in the guide. My favorite so far is the Ladyfoot Damsel Slipper - see if you can tell which one that is!

Fluted Black Elfin Saddle

We acquired something else while in the redwood forest...tics! Lots of them on Bailey, two on Jon so far, none on Dana...yet....ewww! Check out the video below...