When the Sun Shines, Shine Back!

On Sunday night I looked outside at the rain that was falling and told myself I had the wrong attitude. We need rain, and it's the reason the redwoods grow so tall here. Plus, it makes a delightful sound on the roof and windows when you're snuggled warmly inside. So I went to bed Sunday night with a great appreciation of the rain--and awoke to sunshine on Monday morning!

I went to campus with every intention of spending long hours in my office preparing for lab today. Then Mary called me. "The sun's out!" she said, "We're going to the beach!" And, just like that, I was convinced to abandon my work for awhile and enjoy the sun.

We drove up to Trinidad State Beach, about 15 miles north of Arcata. The path was a little muddy, but nothing we couldn't handle. We took a long stairway down to the beach, which opened up on College Cove. The beach was beautiful. There were kids playing in the surf, and a bunch of surfers braving the cold water to enjoy the waves. One of the coolest things we found was a rock area covered with seaweed. Because of all the water running down the hillside right now, there was a constant drip off of the seaweed. It was so cool. The mussels and little barnacles we found on the rocks along the beach were pretty neat, too.

 

Arcata Community Forest

Today, amid the threat of rain showers, Michael and I decided to go for a hike in the Arcata Community Forest. We had some crazy rain and hail earlier in the day, so I was a little leery about hiking around in the forest. Plus, we had a big storm roll in earlier in the week and it's been constantly raining, so everything is saturated. The gutter along the street outside of my apartment has some really thick algae growing in it, and seems to be constantly flowing with water.

 We had plenty of energy when we started out. And, what's that, matching dimples? 

 We did encounter mud in a few places, but nothing we couldn't get around easily. A lot of the trails are made of really compacted gravel, and we were even on what were marked on the map as roads. It definitely wasn't as muddy as I expected it to be.

About half way through we came across a picnic table and stopped for snacks. There were a couple of hummingbirds flitting around, which I found far more interesting than my sandwich.

Post-hike rosy cheeks! We did a total of 5 miles in 3 hours, but according to the GPS unit spent 1 hour stopped. 

Still waiting for Spring

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but I haven't been out experiencing spring too much. Until yesterday we'd had two weeks of rain, which just wasn't something that screamed "Go explore outdoors!!" I've been reading a lot on my Kindle. After finishing the 8th book in the Anne of Green Gables series I downloaded a story by L.M. Montgomery called Kilmeny of the Orchard. It was a short and easy read, with a predictable, yet still sweet plot. Right now I'm half way through The Secret Garden. It's one of my favorite films, and I enjoy the book immensely as well.

I've learned to hula hoop.

And I've been constantly thinking about San Diego, mostly the Zoo. It's always at the back of my mind--I want that job at the San Diego Zoo! So here are a couple of photos I dug up... 1) a baby meerkat, and 2) a passionflower.

2 minute update

Well, I haven't been up to too many exciting things lately.

1) Babysitting a couple of days a week in addition to my TA job.
2) Didn't get swept away by a tsunami on 3/11. There were evacuations in the low lying areas around here, but I was out of harms way all day.
3) Still reading tons of Anne of Green Gables. woot.
4) It rains here--a lot. Too much?

see ya later!