A Walk in the Forest

Our trip to the Redwoods started last Sunday. We flew into San Francisco and drove up to Shelter Cove from there. We took a detour over to the PCH and drove on that for awhile. It was a dizzying, windy road! At one point, Sam even asked a policeman for directions (I think it was Ponch). What should have been a 5 hour trip took 9 hours.

Day 1

We woke up to a gorgeous day. We got a little overexcited making our plans and put together 4 hikes that we wanted to do. As we drove the Avenue of the Giants between our first and second hikes, we got a little lost and ended up at a place where you can drive through a tree. So we did what any good tourist would do - we drove through! Very cool!

Our next stop was Rockefeller Loop. We didn’t know that a person could love a tree, but we found “ours” here. For Sam, the last piece had fallen in place for a plan he had been working on…what did he have in mind?

We took a nice little hike after that. Through the forest, under Hwy 101 and down to the Four Chimneys. We dipped our feet in the clear Eel River. The flats along the banks of the Eel are where most of the truly huge trees are. We looked for eels – didn’t find any :(

At the end of the day, we were worn out. We went back to our little house in Shelter Cove and collapsed.

Day 2

We decided to take it a bit easier on Tuesday. Two hikes – one long and one short. The longer hike was up to Whiskey Prairie. We found a whole lot more skeeters than booze up there. And slugs and snakes. Steph found out that hiking with me sometimes means missing turns and getting lost. So we walked a little farther than we expected. But it was a fine sunny day and we really didn’t care. The prairie was stunning. It was a little steeper than the prairies we have in Kansas.

Day 3

On Wednesday we went to get some real coffee at the local shop in town – the Fish Tank. We took our joe down to the black sand beach and watched the seal lions swim by. Words can’t really do justice to how pretty this beach is, so we took a lot of pictures that speak for themselves.

After the beach, we headed up to Eureka. We have found it! That’s actually kind of funny because we took off without a map or any real idea of how to get where we thought we wanted to go. We had lunch at the Samoa Cookhouse, which is the oldest operating lumber camp kitchen in the US. It was a bit short on taste but long on history. Just right for a lumberjack. That night we went to a Humboldt Crabs semi-pro baseball game. Between the beer, hot dogs, crowd, band and game, it was quite a night. Entertainment that good should cost more than 7 dollars!

PS - Sam is allergic to poison oak. Steph is not.

Day 4

Thursday was another day for hiking. We started out at Bull Creek Flats. This was the site of the Flood of ’51, which had leveled over 500 huge redwoods. They were still just lying there, strewn all over. It was kind of eerie. We looked for Ewoks but didn’t find any.

We headed back over to Rockefeller Loop for lunch after that. As we neared our tree, Steph walked right up to it and looked up at the branches. As she did that, I started telling her how special she is to me and how much I have loved and appreciated the last 18 months with her. When she turned around to listen to me, she found me down on one knee with a ring in my hand. I asked her if she would spend the rest of her life with me. She said Yes! After a lot of laughing, crying and pictures, we eventually did get a bit of lunch at a lovely creek nearby.

We went back to the house and spent the rest of the afternoon on the deck with Bananagrams, chips, guac, wine and beer. The sunset that night was spectacularly fitting for the day.

Day 5

We decided Friday would be a day for exploring the tide pools. We took our coffee to the shore and watched the tide go out. What an amazing ecosystem surrounds the tide pools! We saw crabs, anemones, starfish, mussels, birds of all sorts, sea lions, and seals. The rhythm of the waves and water was mesmerizing…crashing on the shore, spilling over the rocks, dancing and swirling through the crags. We sat there for two hours watching the tide go out. We got hungry eventually and left for some lunch. We came back for high tide and watched the whole scene in reverse for another two hours. What a peaceful, awesome day.

Our flight home on Saturday was scheduled for noon. Some simple math and a decent grasp of travel protocol made for a very early morning. But wow, what a trip. We hope you enjoy the slide show. It’s full of our senses and experiences from the trip. We have plenty more pictures where these come from!

1st Piano Recital

Cassandra Scupham had her 1st piano recital, performing, Kansas City Hot Dog (composer unknown)! Cassandra (her chosen stage name) and Sam are in Suzuki piano lessons with Ms. Emily. Cass is blooming under her tutelage, as you can see in the video, she really jazzed it up. Sam needs help from his daughter from time to time, but he catches on quickly and may perform in the dining-room recital later in the month.

The video was taken at St. Peter's Episcopal church, where a gathering of kids and their parents made quite a large crowd. It's unbelievable how many kids Emily teaches! Sam and I met Amy and her fiance, James, in the parking lot and we all sat together cheering Cassie from the front row.


Cassandra did a beautiful job! She was so brave! She was quoted saying after the performance when asked how she felt, "Much better!" Her nerves were there, but she decided to go up to perform anyway. It was fun for her.

She came down to breakfast the next morning looking sad. Sam asked her what was going on. She asked, "Is piano over now?" Sam replied, "You mean because you had a recital you think it might be over?" Cassie nodded. Then he reassured her that piano was still on! Funny.


I am glad she's having a good time. We had a good time experiencing that with her.


Much love,


Enjoy the video!

Takin' a Breather

We have been working so hard.  I for one have been nearing my ultimate parameter for allowable work-stress.  There's no need for an excuse to go on vacations, right?  Heck, Europeans have holiday for a month!  So, we are headed to the fresh air of the Redwood Forest in June!  A little hiking, a little sea, a lot of rest and fresh seafood.  Yay!

We were concerned about the trip fitting in to our vacation spreadsheet budget (I love this about us!  A spreadsheet :) .  Then we found a site that made all the difference.  Check it out - www.vrbo.com - Vacation Rentals By Owner.  We found an amazing deal!

We wish ourselves peace and you too, always.  Time to take a breather.  Ahhhh.

Peace & love & stuff,

S

Cassie's 6th Brithday

     This week Cassie turned 6-years old.  She's had a wonderful week, 1st visiting her grandmothers, YiaYia & BooBoo, and her Aunt Lexa and Lexa's boyfriend, Brian, and all the pooches at the farm in Iowa.   She received a a DVD of the Nutcracker ballet which she watches with rapt attention interrupted by bursts of dancing, leaping and fluttering.  She is joy.

     Then, on Friday Cass had a great birthday celebration at school where she got to say her name on the school's intercom system, had a class party with cupcakes (her mom)  and Hawaiian Punch (her dad) and extra special school presents.  Cass's school friend couldn't partake in any of it, though, since he was allergic to Red Dye #5.   Poor kid.  Next year we'll remember to bring a special one for him.   

    On Friday night Cassie's friends Courtney, Phillip, Zeebie, Garrison, Bernie and little Pearlie-girlie hosted a dinner party in her honor.  Cassie and all of us had so much fun.  You can see a picture of Cass holding Pearl in the video below.  I'll bet Pearl slept hard that night.  Cassie helped Sam make her birthday cake for the party.  You'll notice that the icing job is very cute.  Cass had a tube of icing to write letters with and she began with an "I" and stopped with "love."  "I Love."  That's it.  And she sure does.  :)

    Saturday morning was the official day!  6 years old!!  She had some beautifully warpped presents from her Poppa & Grandma Melanie.  Those had her curious all through the breakfast feast.  Oh, What a good job of growing!  :)  She's has a bigger bike, a larger shoe size, a bigger clothing size... and she's spelling, writing, & reading ...she enjoys her privacy now, she completely dresses herself, an she can make (flip) pancakes... and she is just the most wonderful love-able 6-year-old we all know!  Sam and Amy have one special little girl to be proud of.  And speaking as one of Cassie's bonus people, I am so blessed to have her in my life.  

    Please enjoy this short video:

Sam Jam

 

for Valentine's we painted

Sam to Steph

Steph to Sam

Cass the Minnow

Cass went to swimming lessons tonight and acheived a real milestone. She swam! She did the crawl and the backstroke. I'm very proud of her progress - in four classes she has gone from not floating, to floating on her back, to floating on her front, to swimming. The best part is that she really enjoys it and seems very proud of herself. Steph put together the clip below from some footage we took of her last class.