HiJenx

We headed up north. It was meant to be a big driving day, but we got distracted. It was fun though. We stopped at the Solar Living Center, which was all very hippie. We spoke to some people selling mood shine (non-alcoholic herbal elixirs to make you feel better, so yes, mood). They told us they loved living in California and that places like this were very typical. 

We tried one of their mixes and it was pretty good. It tasted like chocolate and curry spices. 

We also met someone who had made his own instrument out of the bottom of a propane tank. It actually sounded very nice:

Do check out the video for that and much more:

Most of the area was composed of tents:There were a few more permanent buildings though: 
They had loads of solar panels, which doubled as shade:Like much of the middle of California, they also grew wine grapes. There are SO many vineyards in California:
We had some organic pizza. I am happy they kept the actual cheese. Vegan cheese just doesn’t do it for me:

They even had a few lemon trees:

We had spent about an hour in the sun with the counter culturists. This was probably the last day of summer for us. I realize it’s been over for ages for everyone else who doesn’t live in Arizona, California or Florida, but we changed seasons as we went north. It was 80 degrees and glorious in Hopland, but by the time we reached our hotel in Fortuna, we were in a cool pine forest on the coast:

That said, this hotel was superb. It is called the Redwood Fortuna Riverwalk Hotel. It was still a little pricey for us (though would probably suit fine for many others), but unlike the last place, it was lovely. Everything in it smelled pine fresh, and I don’t mean like pine scented Febreeze. The air in the area was so clean and wonderful, that it just made everything else nicer. That said, it was also incredibly clean without feeling bleached. The beds were comfortable and the tv was more than suitable for watching the fantastic conclusion of quite the cliffhanger on Doctor Who. The breakfast was also the best we’d had since Louisana and the staff were lovely. It had a reasonable indoor pool as well. If you are in the area, we recommend it.

The next day we headed up the beautiful Pacific coast road. It was our first proper day of fall, but what a glorious one. The Pacific coast continued to be stunning:

We also got to both see and drive through some redwoods, which are amazingly huge trees that can live up to 2000 years:

Pictures cannot really depict how truly awesome these are. They are as tall as skyscrapers and incredibly sturdy. They also smell great. This forest feels very different from the giant east coast forest. I like it better honestly. It smells better, has less bothersome insects and has this majesty that is hard to explain. It is truly epic and we don’t feel in hate with trees anymore. I’m not sure we want to live in a heavily treed area, but we did really enjoy visiting these.

As we approached Oregon, pine trees started to become more common than Rewoods:

The actual Oregon sign needs a good clean:

We haven’t had a great time in Oregon so far, but we are hoping it will improve. Our first experience beyond this sign was going to a Motel 6 in Roseburg, which made us think that however cheap they are, even if they are clean, they are rarely a good idea. It felt like a prison cell after that lovely hotel in Fortuna. We also had quite the fiasco with the restaurant next door, Shari’s. It took ages to take our order, ages to get our food (about 30 min even though the restaurant wasn’t busy) and it arrived cold. They proceeded to think the solution to this was microwaving steak and salmon. We disagreed and left. We ended up getting another Chinese takeaway, which meant eating dinner around 9 PM. Not cool, Oregon. We are hoping tomorrow will be better.