It was Annette’s birthday on Sunday the 22nd, so accordingly we opted to celebrate by bugging out to the coast. This time we had four nights… all at Del Norte Redwoods State Park about seven miles south of Crescent City. The extra days on either side of the weekend allowed us to see more of the Crescent City area, and inspired me to emulate the popular blog “Sh*t My Dad Says” with my own version: “Sh*t You Only See in Crescent City.”

If i ever found myself living in that scruffy north-coast community i’d be sure to actually produce such a blog, but as it happens we were too focused on being tourists to pursue photographing the unusual cast of characters populating the area. My fav was the guy in the ancient Datsun(!) pickup truck, rummaging through the garbage cans along the bay wall collecting bottles and cans, then, suddenly, setting up a fairly new-looking nylon tent right on the walking path. He took it down after admiring it for a few minutes.

I can’t imagine what the unemployment rate is throughout the north coast. If there ever was a time to buy real estate in that area, that time is now.

On Saturday we visited Arcata and Eureka and actually spent some time walking around. It was move-in day at Humboldt State, so Arcata was swamped with an incoming tide of students. Upon arriving in town the massive farmers’ market was in full swing… with a seemingly endless cornucopia of photographic quality vegetables all priced well below (well below) the prices at the Ashland market. Nearly a week later we’re still eating the heirloom tomatoes Annette bought.

The town of Arcata personifies the somewhat pejorative term “crunchy” and, after slowly cruising the Humboldt State campus, Annette practically chanted “i’m so glad you didn’t get that job here.” I was not quite as certain as she, but i could totally understand her point. We would be in the older demographic were we to move to Arcata. In Ashland, retirement mecca of Oregon, we’re youngins. Plus, aside from working in one of the dozen or so vegetarian restaurants, there’s nothing for her to do.

But what i took away from this most recent coastal jaunt is a re-engergized conviction that i really do want to live on the Pacific coast. The desire is there, now all i need is the “how.”