Northern California Coast Pt.2

The next morning, Connor and I went to do the Trinidad Head hike. It is one of the ones you can do as a Redwood Edventure. The museum where you could get the brochure was closed, so I loaded it on my phone from the website instead. We followed the clues, one of which took us to this magnificent view. 

I have since filled out the form for the patch. We will see how long it takes to arrive.

From there we stopped by Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, but decided not to stay too long. I have been there before as that is where Fern Canyon is located. We also considered doing the Edventure that was located there, but time wasn't on our side. Besides, the spot I wanted to see most was still further north.

After another hour or so, we reached Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. There is an Edventure there too, but we took a recommendation from the ranger at the visitor center and walked the Simpson Reed Grove Trail instead.

There were a bunch of banana slugs out an about. I don't recall seeing ones with brown spots before, but this guy had them.

Most of the redwood state parks in the area are also associated with Redwood National Forest. I think the Jedediah Smith Redwoods SP just might be my favorite. It seemed wetter and greener to me. I especially like all the moss and that ferns that sometimes grow out of the trees. 

Connor and I then continued on to Oregon. As we passed from California to Oregon, Connor saw in the rearview mirror that the California state sign was back up. The last time we had passed through, it wasn't there.

How silly is it to live in a state and not have a picture by the state sign? Despite the heavy rain, we righted that obvious wrong and stopped for our obligatory jumping photos.

From there we went reached Oregon and had a jolly time seeing family and celebrating with Oma.

We did end up with quite a haul in terms of patches and magnets. The patches have been added to the souvenir patch map for those who are curious about where to find them. They were acquired from Leggett to just past Crescent City in Hiouchi while following highway 101, then turning onto highway 199.

Island Knitting Retreat Pt.2

After a morning lesson with Cat, it didn't take long for most of us to decide we had to go visit the LYS, Island Wools. I, like many others, fell down hard. My two selections are dyed in the shop. Julie's Whimsical Colors on Silk Whimsy called my name. I almost was able to resist until Megan called Into The Abyss "Electric Cookie Monster Blue". Then I decided that that skein needed a friend, namely a skein of Darkened Forest.

On a slight aside, Julie currently has signed copies of Lit Knits in her shop and she does ship.

Each day was an adventure. Mornings started out with a group breakfast, followed by a lesson, then a group lunch. Then everyone would split off for their own afternoon adventure. One of the days I went with Linda, Melissa, and Susan to the Lime Kilns park to look for Orcas. We didn't see any, but we did see this cute light house. And behind it is Canada. We were so close to Canada that I ended up having to turn my cell phone data off so that I wouldn't accidentally be charged for using Canadian services.

While driving to Roche Harbor (to find Linda a rich husband.... haha) we accidentally found Krystal Acres alpaca farm and country store. Of course when I took my camera out, everyone turned around and walked away at the same time! 

Susan got tempted and bought some yarn. By the evening, we had heard that quite a few people had found Krystal Acres and left with goodies.

I am so thankful for having gotten to know so many wonderful knitters. They are my tribe. No where else can you talk about yarn with passion and not have people look at you funny.

 I had the pleasure of taking the group photo. Almost everyone is in it.

The day we left the island, Francine and Caitlin took me back to Seattle. I didn't expect to see a Washington sign as we disembarked from the ferry. As we drove by I shouted out, "We have to go back! I need a picture of the Washington sign." To which Francine replied, "A picture standing by it?" "No, jumping by it!" Thanks guys. I love that neither of you thought it was weird.

 Thanks for taking the picture, Francine

The drive back was full of good conversation, and great stops. We visited no less than three yarn shops. I managed to resist at Wildfibers (although I enabled Caitlin and Francine into some Spincycle Dyed In The Wool) Wildfibers has a sample of my Beyond The Pines shawl and it was great fun seeing it in person.

When Francine took us to Serial Knitters, I took leave of my senses and bought two skeins of Black Trillum's Pebble Sock. With names like Butterbeer and Hedwig, who could blame me? Of course if you don't understand the allure, you are clearly a Muggle.

All in all, it was a great trip. There were so many more experiences and conversations that can't even be described in this blog. I hope it isn't the last time I get to see everyone.

The Wedding

I know that I had said earlier that I had finished my shawl in time for the wedding. Here's the proof!

First I have to thank everyone who came and celebrated with us for making the wedding really fun. Just about every photo has someone laughing in it. We were lucky to have a wonderful photographer, Gabriel Harber, join us to capture all the laughter. (All photos in this post are by him.) Thanks again to Lorraine Helf, who put together all the flowers and table decorations. Thank-you Christopher (my brother) who played the guitar for the ceremony. Thanks, Mum, for keeping us all going and for bringing along Aragorn. And a big thanks to my Dad, who kept everyone functional and funded. (There were many, many other contributors. I appreciate everyone for helping.)

There were vague Lord of the Ring references throughout the wedding. It started as a joke after I used the Hobbit Door picture for our wedding invitations. But everyone ended up contributing. For example, our cake had a hobbit door on it. I had nothing to do with the cake.... 

Also, all the tables got named after places in the Lord of the Rings. (The parents were put at "Grey Havens." Haha. The wedding party was at "Rivendell" since that is where the Fellowship was forged. The cake could be found on "The Shire" table.)

I still kind of can't believe that such a lovely wedding was planned and executed in two months.

But I know it happened. We have a jumping photo to prove it!

On a slight aside, it was really hard finding green ties. I told Connor that the next time we get married, we'll do blue ties instead.

Rock Climbing And Smoking Desserts

Chris' godson Liam came to visit during his school holidays last week. We picked him up from the airport and I saw a Weta Workshops display that I had missed seeing when I had arrived.

Unfortunately I ended up with a migraine the next day, but the day after we all took the train down to town. (I learned that going into town means going into Wellington) First we gave rock climbing a go. Liam started and Chris was belaying him. It took me a good twenty minutes to muster up the courage to give it a shot. But once I got going I quite enjoyed myself.

I also learned that there are quite a few muscles I don't normally use. It was almost as much work belaying as it was climbing.

Afterwards we took the cable car up to the top of the botanical gardens.

Chris asked Liam if he wanted to have a picture taken, to which Liam said "No." I asked Liam if he would take a jumping shot with me. Chris: 0, Audry: 1.

In the evening we went to Genghis Khan, a Mongolian restaurant, for dinner. The best part is always the smoking desserts, though.

We walked up to the top of Mt. Victoria after dinner to have a look at the city lights. It was only after we got to the top that we realized that we'd missed the lunar eclipse. Ah well. It was still a beautiful night.

Get Lucky In Kentucky

I am clearly a crazy person because I week before leaving for New Zealand, I travelled out to Kentucky. It all came about after Connor said, "It's too bad you can't meet my family before you go to New Zealand." And I said, "I've got a weekend."
When we landed in Kentucky, I noticed that the Kentucky themed shirts were printed with the words, "Get lucky in Kentucky." There was an outline of the state and a horseshoe. I imagine they were talking about horse races.

The three days we were there were packed. Connor's sister picked us up and we went to a Crackerbarrel where I ate catfish for the first time. I quite like catfish. We then went to his parents' house, which was built a bit before and after the American Civil War. It even has a name: Mount Lookout.

After visiting with his parents, we took a walk around the farm. I've always wanted to climb up one of those round hay bales, but never had the chance... until now! Connor was kind enough to show me the method of getting up. I'm a bit shorter than him, so it took me a few tries to get up. A few, rather undignified tries. Eventually I got up.

Being from California, most fire related things are off limits because everything is so dry. But that night, Connor's brother, Mason, and cousin, Keenan, came over and we had a bonfire. There isn't a good sense of scale in this photo, but the fire was much taller than me. Afterwards there was a discussion about fireworks. Fireworks were procured. Connor and I watched Mason and Keenan lean over the box, mutter to each other, then take some over to where we would launch them, mutter some more, ending with, "Good enough." It was an excellent night.

The next day I visited with people a bit more. But in the afternoon Mason, Keenan, Connor, and I went canoeing up the creek that is by their house. We paddled up, dragged the canoes over various obstacles, like cattle gates, until we couldn't go any further. Then we grounded the canoes and walked up the creek some more. We came upon crayfish battling. It was then that I realized that I was the only one with open toe shoes and there were lots of large crayfish around. I asked for a piggyback ride to safety.
On our way down I caught a few frogs and Mason pointed out buckeyes. I started to collect them and Connor asked, "Are you collecting them because they are pretty?" Me: "No, I want to throw them at Mason and Keenan. Is that ok?" Connor: "Yes." The mission was dubbed Operation Buck You In The Eye. After all the boys helped pull the canoes over the last cattle gate, Keenan and Mason got a better start than Connor and I, so he and I paddled like hell to catch up. After ramming their canoe with our own, we started hurling buckeyes at them. There will be a rematch in the future. But for now, Connor and I hold the upper hand.
We all smelled like frog afterwards, so showers were had before going out for dinner.

This is where we put in the canoes

The last full day in Kentucky, I met Connor's best friend Joe. We went to a Steak And Shake. (Another thing that isn't in California) Connor said it was "their" restaurant. I asked if they ever split milkshakes. We all laughed about how Joe liked the Strawberry, Connor like the "Nana" and when their straws touched they had a moment. We talked about life stuff well into the evening. Later on Connor said that it took having Joe and I in the same room to realize how similar we were.

On the way to the airport the next day, Mason was kind enough to take a Bourbon County jumping picture for me. This is the county where Bourbon was invented. (The liquor was named after the county) and I thought it was pretty neat that the creek that ran by Connor's parents house was used for the first Bourbon.

All in all, it was an excellent trip. I hope to go out again in the near future. It will have to wait, though. Today I arrived in New Zealand.

Whirlwind Yosemite Trip: Part 2

In the morning the boys and I explored the area. We had found our tents at night, so we took the opportunity to enjoy the surroundings. Before we headed off, Mum wanted pictures of each party in front of their respective tents. Mum and I were a bit boring, but the boys, realizing that they were in tent 747, laughed about how it was the "airplane" tent.

We drove to Olmstead Point, where we took yet another jumping picture. It was quite windy and hot that day. The fire behind us was a controlled burn, or so they said.

Here's Mum pointing to Cloud's Rest, which we had hiked to a little over two months ago. It was during that last trip that I made more solid plans to go to New Zealand.

After stopping in Tuolumne Meadows for a snack, we drove down Tioga Pass to Mono Lake. Connor wore his loud shirt that day so he wouldn't get lost. Somehow, he still managed to wander off without us seeing where he was going. The conversation would go something like...
"Where did Connor go?"-Mum
"I'll go look for the highlighter" - Me

After eating lunch at the Whoa Nellie Deli, we drove back up Tioga Pass where we started to suspect that the "controlled burn" might not be so controlled after all. As we passed Olmstead Point again we saw a helicopter go by. Later on we learned that they had been evacuating people off of Half Dome. I was a little disappointed to not have been one of them. Imagine walking to Half Dome and getting a free helicopter ride back!

After Olmstead Point, Jason chose the music: the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. The first song, Hooked On A Feeling, came on and Mum exclaimed, "I know this one!" Then she and Jason proceeded to sing. Connor leaned over to me and whispered, "This just got awesome!" It was then that we all learned that Jason has an amazing voice.

Jason had the honors of cleaning the windscreen since he had shotgun. 

As evening crept in, we stopped by Knight's Ferry and got the last jumping shot of the trip.

On the way home Connor and I passed out. Mum leaned over to Jason and asked if we were awake. He replied that Sparky (me) and Highlighter (Connor) had burnt themselves out.

Whirlwind Yosemite Trip: Part 1

Today, I will continue with the epic saga of "Relive my whole life in two months." This time I found myself in Yosemite for a whirlwind trip that lasted 37 hours. The players were Mum, Jason, Connor, and I. With everyone picked up, we were on the road by 9AM. An hour and a bit later, we stopped at Casa de Fruta, which my father once infamously pronounced as, "Caser de Fruter." To which Mum said, "There are no 'Rs' in Casa de Fruta." Dad responded, "I can't help if they are silent." And we all replied, "And nonexistent."
Connor noted that just about every spot was a "Casa de" something. It was at this point that I introduced the boys to the jumping shot.

We only live about 4ish hours from Yosemite, so it didn't take too long to get to the Mariposa Grove. Despite it being past Labor Day, and supposedly the "off season" the parking lot was so full that we had to park elsewhere and use the shuttle instead. But once all that was sorted, we did a little hike. The boys joined me for a second jumping shot in front of the Grizzly Giant.

We continued on with the hike, looking for the Telescop Tree, a tree where the center had burned out but still was living. It took a bit longer than we anticipated, and just about every burn tree we found we looked up into to see if we could see the sky. Pro Tip, the tree has a sign in front of it. We did eventually locate it. Mum thought that we should take a "selfie". I still think it's funny every time Mum says that word.

After we got back to the car, we drove to Tunnel View. I love that we reached it right around sunset. It is certainly my favorite time of the day to see the view. And as always, we did the obligatory jumping shot.

Connor was the only one of us to have not seen Yosemite yet. We were staying in Curry Village. When he learned that Curry Village was in the valley, his eyes lit up. Something about, "We get to stay down there?!" Yes.... yes we do.

By the time we checked in, it was around 8PM. Most of the restaurants were closed. The one that was left open (pizza) was going to be open until 10PM, so we all opted to put our bags in the tents and take showers. Another Pro Tip from me to you: even if you get back into the same clothes you were wearing, if you wear fresh socks, you will feel better. Jason in particular felt that I was right.
We ate a massive amount of pizza. (I might have "won" at 5.5 slices.) And afterwards we played Nertz. After finding that three of us had a two of clubs and only he had the ace, Connor invented a clever new move. He threw the two into the air, put out his ace and the two landed on top. I didn't even realize what had happened. But there was a two on the ace and it wasn't mine. We pronounced the move legal because it was kind of amazing.

Mum headed to bed and the boys and I did a little stargazing. I spotted the only shooting star of the night before we all turned in. In the morning we would be continuing on with the second half of our whirlwind trip.

Fern Canyon

Mum told me the other day, "It's like you are trying to relive your entire life in two months." She is kind of right. I've travelled all over in the last two weeks and spent almost no time on the computer and no time knitting. I'm sure there will be time to catch up, but the time is not right now. I will try to fill you all in on my recent exploits though.

After seeing my Oma, Mum and I drove to Fern Canyon to do a sock photo shoot. I've been to Fern Canyon several times and I think summer is probably the best time of year to see it.

Looking up the wall of the canyon, it is just so stunning to see all the ferns lined up. I feel like I'm living through the Jurassic Period.

Mum was an excellent model as usual. Some people walked up to us an asked if we wanted our picture together. I had to explain that I design knits and that I was taking pictures of socks on purpose. We saw them later on and they cheekily offered to model.

When we saw the water running down the side of the canyon, Mum said that it reminded her of Milford Sound in New Zealand. I hope I get a chance to see it when I'm there later on this month.

As usual, I got my jumping photo. These orange shoes have seen their fair share of adventure. I think they brighten up the photo quite well.

As we finished hiking the trail loop, Mum and I noticed that a bunch of plants had been eaten. At first I thought that the banana slugs had either grown to great proportions or that there was an army of them. Then we realized that the Roosevelt Elk that live in the area must of climbed into the canyon and had a feast.

Fern Canyon is quite a ways away from home, but Mum and I decided that we were going to power though and got home around midnight. We actually drove over the road where the Napa earthquake was only hours before it happened. I've decided that my Mum's superpower name should be "Natural Disaster" because weird events seem to follow her.