She said I nailed it!

This morning, the world smelled wonderful...of earth and rain and the sea!  The little rain we had in the night freshened everything, including our spirits. Our jaunt for today was a long one. To add to the challenge, we had to make an unscheduled stop, because Jill's phone died. Ah, well, vacation is vacation and it beats the best day at work, any time...Oh, wait, I don't go to work any more. Well, you know what I mean.

We departed Turtle Rock just before 8 AM. The rain, more of a mist, in point of fact, continued intermittently as we drove to Brookings, where we planned to fill up Red Ryder's gas tank. It continued off and on well into California. Don't get the idea, however, that the drought is by any means abating in the Golden State.

Our route took us through the breathtaking California Redwoods.  The road is winding and narrow, and some of the trees are practically in the road. The speed limit is between 30 and 40 mph: not good for making distance, but good for the soul... to slow down and enjoy the incredible grandeur of God's creation. 

Our unscheduled stop was in Arcata, a quaint and friendly little college town just north of Eureka.  Thanks be to God and to "Simply MacIntosh" for resurrection of Jill's iPhone. It turns out the battery was simply so run down that our little wall charger couldn't get it back up.  "Simply MacIntosh's" Kirsten plugged into a "professional" charger and in 20 minutes had brought the battery up to 20%! This was the second lift of the day for Jill's spirits. She was convinced she would need a new phone.

We walked around town a little, waiting for the battery to charge. Arcata was a fun, serendipitous discovery.  It is the home of Humboldt State University, and the businesses that we saw around the Zokolo (town square, for those of you who have never visited a Mexican town) were more or less aimed at students. In the center of the square, stands a statue of William McKinley. We didn't discover his significance to Arcata, but it was a nice likeness...I guess...I have no idea what McKinley looked like.

At last we stopped for coffee and apple fritters at Don's Donut Shop. It's just off 9th Avenue on H Street.  Don't go there. There are bad things there. They make good people (like us) make bad choices...like indescribably delicious and rather large apple fritters. You have been warned.

Having recovered the phone, we hit the road and rolled along without incident.  More redwoods. More little towns. More trees, more hills, more amazing ocean views. After a while, we arrived in Willits a small town that is one of our favorites.  I say small, but Willits has grown a bunch over the years. The traffic is astonishing, and it appears there is a highway bypass under construction.  All in all, I would say Willits is thriving.

Continuing down the coast, we turned off at Calpella on Hwy 20 and headed for Nice (yes, just like in France...in fact it was named after the French town). The attraction at Nice is the Aurora RV Park.  Here is the reason:

 Topper and Red Ryder on the shore of Clear Lake.

 The park barbecue, complete with grape arbor and ripe Concord grapes, free for the picking!

 Another view of waterfront. 

There is more park across the road, but why stay there, when you could be where we are?

Once we were settled in, Jill's comment was, "You nailed it this time!" I think we may stop here on our way home!

After dinner, I sat outside Topper drinking in the view:

 Click on the one above and open it up for full enjoyment.

 If you open this one, you can see a little village on the lower left part of the hill.