What I did On My Spring Vacation, Part Two

After I left San Francisco,  I headed up the coast.  My main destination was Arcata, CA- home of the hippies, but I made a side trip to Bandon, Oregon- a town with a Radio Hut, and some shoppes selling fudge and pirate-themed tchotchkes.  And a lovely coastline:

Then it was back on the 101 and down to Arcata.  What a great drive.  The road would run along the ocean, and then into a grove of redwoods, and then back to the ocean, and then through the mountains...   A-mazing.   

The next five days were spent in Arcata, just hanging out with my friend Jodie, her boyfriend, Jhon, and their daughter, Lillian.  There were trips to the redwoods:

And to the beach:

One afternoon, I was alone in their apartment and suddenly a feeling of vertigo came over me.  My first reaction was "Damn, my blood sugar's dropping.  I should eat something."  Then I got scared for a moment, then the feeling passed.  A few minutes later, it happened again.   I decided it was time to get out of the house and find Jodie.  I met her on the street a few blocks away and she asked if I had felt the earthquake.   Suddenly, the confusion & dizziness made much more sense.   4.0 on the Richter Scale.  

We went to the Humboldt Bay Coffee Company, where we saw beans being roasted and I bought the most delicious Peruvian blend:

Then it was time to drive back to San Francisco for my flight home.  Again, the 101 is an amazing drive- more redwood forests, wine country, Marin County, and then the Bay:

After the quickest check in I've ever experienced (seriously, I checked my bag and made it through security in 5 minutes), I settled in with an Entertainment Weekly to wait for my flight. A few minutes later, my friend Evan sat down next to me.  Turns out he was in San Francisco on business.  No matter where I go, I always find someone from New Jersey.  And that's the way I like it.