Arrive with Harriet at the Netarts, OR,
beach house late,
after a semi-perilous, fairly cloudy-rainy journey (though now, voila, the moon shines brightly),
to
greet
the even-later-arriving Claire, Tom,
Tisha, and
Aubrey --
beginning our (pre-)Christmas 2018 celebration together.
Weather-wise,
the day begins promisingly enough,
but
is
almost
immediately
overtaken by what first appears to be a
coastal marine layer,
turning quickly into bone fide precipitation,
which will be our on-and-off accompanist all the way through
Napa on
12, and
Sonoma, connecting with 101 north, petrolling up at Clover near
Redwood Mountain Ridge,
then into Mendocino,
past Frog Woman (formerly Squaw / Lover's Leap) Rock,
through
Hopland,
over Rattlesnake Summit
to
South Fork Eel River near Piercy.
Now in Humbolt at
Richardson Grove,
downstream to
Benbow,
more supplies at
Garberville,
followed by Avenue of the Giants,
Scotia and
Rio
Del,
the
Bay,
Eureka / Arcata,
Trinidad,
Stone
and
Freshwater Lagoons,
Orick,
elk at
Prairie Creek Redwoods.
Del Norte,
over the Klamath,
against
the
Pacific,
Crescent City into
Smith River
for another
stop
before the
Oregon border,
where the sun makes a welcome re-appearance.
The reasonable coastal weather of the day continues from Brooks,
along
the
rocky
way
to
Gold
Beach,
over
the
Rogue
River,
beyond
where
Sol
sets
during the
transit
from
Humbug
Mountain
to
Port Orford.
Night, and eventually
Tillamook / Netarts, on the 38th day of fall -- high 61, sunny, and no rain whatsover back home: Smith River, 56; Oregon beach residence, 55...
