Hometown To Humboldt

        This past Sunday, Phil and I took off on our cross country roadtrip with the ultimate destination of Eureka/Arcata California. Easy to say, we had the best time exploring new places together and Phil got the chance to visit some places he hadn't been in awhile. 

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    We got most of our driving done through the night. Less distractions, less drivers, less food to be eaten, and lots of stars! After our first night's drive, we took a long nap beside Lake Erie right outside of Cleveland Ohio. The air there is super fresh. There's a difference between looking out over those fresh water lakes and my accustomed view of the ocean. 

  We just laid out under the trees with just enough shade and when we woke we took our second shift to Chicago. We rented a beautiful apartment in  Hyde Park using AirBnB. The best. Our hostess Cherry told us about her winter in Hawaii and provided us with lots of samples from her and her mother Vilay's homemade, natural skin care line. Never would have thought to use turmeric in body butters, and antioxidant face creams but I think they're onto something. (I've been using her products ever since and just ordered some of my own. Really great.  Check them out here:  http://www.margccherry.com/about/ )

   We had dinner at a nice little organic place way uptown and after a good night's sleep in "The Turquoise Room", we headed downtown to do some city scaping. Buuuut the skies opened up and WOAH, those lakes are serious. So, it was onto Denver from there. We made good time and got to Denver by 8am the next day after a stop or two and a short nap. 
  
   Had some breakfast at this awesome place City O' City and grabbed a room at the new ART hotel. Everyone there was incredibly friendly, and it was a little surreal to stroll around, walk into a head shop, and be given the run down of edibles. I was stoked to find some cinnamon flavored oil that was equal parts CBD and THC. Yes. Yes.... Yes. Also found some fun little awakening mints and of course a chocolate bar for good measure.

   After an awesome night in Denver enjoying a couple beers at Pikes Peak Lounge  watching the sun set over the Rockies, we woke up and took the ride up to Rocky Mountain NP to do some hiking and exploring of our own. Absolutely beautiful and exhilarating having the chance to move through those mountains and admire the views along the way. I have a whole new appreciation for Colorado as a whole. We drank water from the streams and moseyed past beautiful lakes until we ended up at the Emerald Lake at the very top of our trail. My heart and my camera were full as we headed onto the next travel destination, Lake Tahoe.

    We got to Lake Tahoe by 11am or so the next day (Friday) and were warmly greeted at the camper we rented for a night, again through AirBnB. We ate at this awesome spot Freshies, had a couple beers, and got extremely overpriced massages just because. Well actually, because our backs were aching after too many hours sitting in the damn car. Much needed! 

   That night we had delicious gluten-free pizza at Lake Tahoe Pizza Company and made our way to the casinos for the night! We caught an awesome comedy show (or at least we THINK it was awesome) and wound up having a great time. Saturday we made our last seven hours and got to Humboldt. It was a wild drive.... we needed to keep our window up because of a nearby forest fire that was along the drive...

It's been really eye-opening coming out to California at a time when residents are doing their best to combat their lack of water and  the devestating circumstances that accompany this. The entire "Keep Tahoe Blue" initiative caught my attention and the evacuation of so many Californian residents from their homes at these scary times. It certainly makes me appreciate the East coast, and being handed a glass of water at a restaurant without having to ask. And the entire contemplation that comes with the fact that our most coveted and necessary resource is dwindling in some of the most magnificent places in our country. You do feel like the fight becomes yours when you step on this land and enjoy these beautiful views. As of now, I have a lot of catching up to do..

We enjoyed the drive, and were able to get some fresh air further along the ride. We got to Humboldt in time to enjoy Phil's family for the evening and we've been settling in ever since.

Looking back on the trip over these past couple days, I'm elated. Getting in the car and just going was one of the best decisions we've made. It wasn't as hard as I imagined, being able to share the drive with someone you love is a plus, allowing times to just enjoy the scenery along the way... Living in the moment.

..I'm lucky to have the partner that I do and I'm happy that it just all works out the way that it does. I make a conscious effort not to put my lovely on blast too often, but Phil deserves all the praise. I'm happy to watch him here in his element and grow alongside him. The cool part about this love, is that it doesn't need to be spoken for. We know what it is... 

This morning after our hike in the Redwoods, we took a trip to the outdoor store to find a tent that we can reside in over the next couple of months. After securing a nice five person tent we walked out of there hand in hand and laughed for a bit acknowledging that our first "home" together fits into the backseat of our car. I have BIG ideas for this space! :)


And now I'm just sitting here at Oldtown Coffee and Chocolates enjoying my chai latte and reminiscing on the journey that it's been. Grateful, grateful, grateful. Can't wait to share more time on the road, but first we go green!


Here's a look at some more photos from our times at RMNP and Lake Tahoe: