We woke up to a more traditional Pacific Northwest weather pattern of being cool and foggy this particular morning. This was a sign to get a hot breakfast at Golden Harvest Cafe. I got an insanely delicious Crispy Caspary Benedict. Just picture it: fresh spinach, tomato, and double battered fried chicken, bacon and poached eggs on a homemade biscuit and garlic cream sauce. I will be making this at home sometime in the future. With full bellies, it was time to go find some tall tall trees.
Bre had to work, but the evening prior, she had given Triina the scoop on where we should hike in the Redwoods National Park. The plan was to hike to the small grove of the very tallest trees. It required a special permit, a 45-min drive deep into the park, gate access code, and a hike in. We went to the particular visitor center that was the only one that issued the permits sadly to find that the sequester had hit this National Park. Due to the NP getting cut of all that “unnecessary and wasteful” funding it had received years prior, it could no longer maintain the road that led into the park and hence, we could not drive to the trailhead. Technically, we could still hike into the park and after miles and miles, we could link up to the trailhead using other trails, but that would be over 32+ miles to do roundtrip and it was already past noon. No tall tree trail for us. We had to settle on a different 7.5 mile RT called Berry Glen Trail that took us into some other old growth tree groves and linked up to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail loop.
Now trees have such a special place in my heart, I just love being with them in nature. They make the forest smell so good and clean the air, they make shade, they protect smaller plants that grow at their roots, they make homes for animals and other plants, they give so many things to so many others! Walking amongst them in the woods, you feel so small and that they are so big and wise from all the things they have bore witness to. The idea from Lord of the Rings, of trees being Ents, tall slow patient creatures who protect the forest resonates with me so. I like to think they are there to watch over and protect everyone, people, animals, and plants alike. Triina also loves the Ents. In the magical redwood forest, you definitely felt like they could come alive at any moment and you just want to run up and hug them and thank them for being so wonderful. We had a glorious afternoon ramble through the trees talking and laughing together as we hiked amongst the giants. We took some time to take tree-hugging photos with our favorite ones.
On the way up, we had spotted a sign for a winery called Moonstone Crossing and made a mental note so not to miss it on the way back to Bre’s. This was a bit different of a place than all the other wineries we had gone to. They grow no grapes of their own but buy all their grapes from other vineyards in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Amador areas and then just focus on the wine making part. Their tasting room was in the small town of Trinidad, CA right near the Trinidad Lighthouse and beach. They were hosting a special extended hours for their wine club and we got to enjoy hanging out for as long as we wanted, which was awesome, because they had a 12 wine tasting flight of mini pours. Evaluating 12 wines given in mini samples is a tough job, but Niina and I were up to it. Triina went with the regular pour size of just 6 wines. This place had pretty nice wine. My pick was Dark as Night 2008 California Red. 46% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Franc, 12% Cab Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot.
Afterwards, of course we got ice cream then headed back to Bre’s since she was getting off work and we promised we’d make dinner since she was letting us crash on her floor. I made two pastas, one gluten free rice noodle and the other regular linguini both with a pesto-cream sauce with sautéed heirloom tomatoes and zucchini topped off with parmesan and pine nuts. We also had garlic bread and caprese salad finishing up the napa valley freshies we had. Bre’s boyfriend made a homemade potato salad from scratch and we opened a bottle of wine we had gotten from the Moonstone winery. It was a luscious savory spread shared with new and old friends. Bre and Triina reminisced and shared fun stories about all their naturalist adventures while they were working together mixed in with the new adventures Bre and her boyfriend had experienced while at Burning Man this year (Seriously, it was like everyone and their brother had been there!) We finished the night singing and laughing at songs as Triina and Bre strummed their dueling ukuleles. The song of the night was, “I’m not fat, I’m fluffy” in honor of the quite rotund tubby cat who lived in Bre’s house. It was an entertaining and lighthearted finish to an enchanting day.
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