Abundance!

We are euphoric in Eureka! Words may fail to explain why we are reluctant to leave. Once you've looked at the photos you will understand. From the moment we arrived at Alice's coffee shop in Trinidad it has been glorious abundance. (If you ever find yourselves in Trinidad, make sure and visit the Beachcomber Cafe. Bring your own cup, they don't do "to go" but a better choice is to hangout and soak it up). Every night of our stay we have had an outrageous home cooked meal from bounty of the peak of the produce season here. I went to two Farmers Markets including the Arcata Farmer's Market which really needs to be seen to be believed. We visited our friend Amy from our PCT hike in 1996. Her and her husband and daughter have a beautiful farm in Willow Creek. We got a tour and a fantastic lunch. They specialize in heirloom tomatoes and peaches which were right at their peak season here. They also served homemade wine and lots of other goodies from their land. It was all my romantic images of farming layed out before us. Afterwards we swam in the Trinity River, a short walk behind their farm. Of course no visit is complete without the requisite brewery visits. Griz was happy to be our tour guide on visits to Mad River, Lost Coast and Humbrews. In the spirit of the local movement here in Humboldt County, Christian and Griz took an afternoon to brew their own beer (a SUPER hoppy Brutal B). On Sunday, eight of us spent the afternoon floating the Trinity River. It was the perfect afternoon. Coming home sun saturated and exhausted we enjoyed a fish taco night with halibut (that Griz caught), homemade tortillas and salsa made from gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. We are tearing ourselves away finally although I did enquire about a quote for the monthly rent at Griz and Alice's wonderful home. There are not sufficient words to thanks our hosts, we hope they know (as you do now) what a fantastic time we had!