Beautiful Food, Travel & Design
Pat and I took a day trip to look for some waves while we were camping in the redwoods. We settled on Shelter Cove, which looked like it wasn’t too far away on the map.
It turned out the way there looked a little like this:
OK, well not exactly!
Luckily, it was well worth the drive when we got there. Shelter Cove was a beautiful place and the waves were decent. We also had some great interactions with the locals. First, we met Ray, owner of Ray’s Food Place. Here we gathered several delightful bits of Shelter Cove History and Current Events. He explained to us that Humboldt County is one of the biggest places in the country for growing marijuana. Apparently, much of it is controlled by the Russian Mafia. Ray warned us repeatedly to not to go hiking anywhere in the hills this time of year – men with big guns have a tendency to turn up defending their crop.
We got to the road to go to the cove beach and found most of the town (about 40 people) gathered to see a tractor tipped over blocking the entire road. The boy who was in charge of hauling fishing boats out of the water had had a bit of an accident.
It was great to have a day in the waves. The water was not as cold as Oregon, but still pretty chilly. Of note, most of the local men surf. It’s funny to see all the middle-aged guys with beer bellies stuffing themselves into wetsuits. It’s kind of been a theme for surfing in California!
Needless to say, it was a great little trip, but not worth the horrible drive to do it again!
For the past few days, our destination has been off the beaten path, hence the blog title. We drove about 6 hours down Highway 101 out of Oregon and into California. We just hit the big Redwoods in northern California before stopping in the National Forest to camp for the night. Part of the National Forest designation is the ability to camp on unmarked sites. Basically, you drive down a service road until you come to a level spot, and you pitch your tent! You never know what you’re going to find – a fire pit, a pit toilet, or nothing.
At the end of our road we found a flat space and some ashen remains of a fire. A perfect home for the night!
By my estimations we were right about here:
The mosquitos at the spot were pretty fierce, and the next morning I woke up looking like this:
Nope, not photoshopped, I looked that good. It took almost two days for my eyes to get completely back to normal.
The next day, we drove for a few more hours south and stopped for a surf along the way. The water was freezing! Good thing I bought a nice thick wetsuit and some booties. It was about 50 degrees. Brrrrr.
We decided a good place to end the night was in Humbolt Redwoods Forest State Park. We looked into camping in the park, but were shocked to find it was $35 a night for a bit of dirt to park your tent on! We might as well check into a sleazy motel for those dollars.
We drove off a side road and talked to a man that was selling firewood. We mentioned the price of camping to him and he said, “It’s just ridiculous! That’s our land!” We asked him if there was a place to camp for free in the area and he told us about a secret spot, right along Eel River. It turned out to be as close to paradise as you can get as a camper. Pat just informed me that it’s the third largest watershed in California. Thanks Pat!
Our backyard for three nights:
Doesn’t this look like an ad for Marmot tents?
Thanks to another Living Social deal (yes, I’m obsessed), Pat and I had a sweet place to stay on the ocean for our first night out of Portland. We enjoyed a spacious room at the Sahalishan Resort. It was a little chilly at night, but we still enjoyed our first bit of ocean for this trip.
The next day, we headed down Highway 101, right along the coast. We stopped along the way to do a little surfing in Lincoln City and purchased our first surfboard! It’s a 7 foot funboard, and works well for both of our abilities and heights. Does this make us real surfers now? It just barely fits in Pat’s car. We’re definitely like sardines now.
Now the joys of a comfy bed are behind us for a while. We’re headed into nature. Living in the woods! No toilets! No electricity! Pat’s refusal to wear deodorant! Lots more adventures ahead!!!!
On our roadtrip from Portland to San Francisco, we made time for some wine tasting in Oregon wine country, about an hour south of Portland. We stopped at Lange Estate Winery in Dundee Hills, then Winter’s Hill Vineyard in Lafayette. Pat did the ol’ swish and spit, as the responsible driver, while I enjoyed every sip!
Where your corks come from:
On the drive to Gleneden Beach, we also stopped a peach stand on the side of the road and bought a bag of juicy, ripe peaches. Shopping local never tasted so good!
