Digest 3

My apologies for the choppy nature of this blog theme. I haven't posted in 9 days! But it has been a busy 9 days, so I am sure you understand.

Last week was the kids' last week of school. It was also the end of the Little League season for my older son. Between playoff games, end-of-the-year events and a Scotch tasting, who has time to read?

To wind down, I took the kids camping this week. We went north to Humboldt County. I will get back to that in a second. From a reading perspective, I forced myself to restart The Flamethrowers, which you may recall, I stopped reading due to some stressful foreshadowing. I am glad I did it because the book is still good. How did I force myself? It was the only book I brought with me. On the drive back, we listened to the audiobook of Chomp by Carl Hiassen. It was read by James van der Beek, of Dawson's Creek fame, and he was better than I might have expected, if I had paused to think about it at all.  Liam really like Chomp. I thought it was entertaining, and definitely right in the wheelhouse of a 10 year old boy. The final scenes in the Everglades drag a bit. Overall, 3 stars and I am sure I will be able to get Liam to read more Hiassen now.

Okay, back to camping. We drove up on Tuesday, and our first stop (after picking up our traveling companions in Berkeley) was Real Goods in Hopland. Real Goods showcases Solar and Green living and was very cool. Beautiful and parklike with lots of ponds and gardens. There are trees growing through old cars (not as weird as it sounds) and stationary bikes to generate power. The kids liked it a lot. Then back in the car.

It turns out, it is hard to find lunch on 101 north of Hopland. Yelp has reviews of restaurants that are no longer open. Bars that serve food won't serve kids (not generally a bad policy except when you and your kids are starving). We eventually found the Woodrose Cafe in Garberville. My burger was overcooked but overall it was fine. Also, my Honda Pilot is too large for the Drive Thru Trees. Oh well. Next stop, Avenue of the Giants. Redwood trees are wicked large. Duh. We camped at Baxter Environmental Camp. It was a nice big site with a well-maintained chemical toilet.

Why am I telling you this? So that if you are considering a camping trip north, and you don't know where to stay, you will remember to email me so I can talk to you more at length about this.

Second day, Trinidad Beach, The Trinidad Eatery, the Humboldt State Marine Lab, Patrick's Point SP (where we camped again) and the tide pools at Palmers Point. The kids loved it (and so did I). Third day, Agate Beach and the drive home to Chomp.

A word about Agate Beach. We witnessed firsthand a massive sea star die-off that we had heard about at the Marine Lab. It was bloodless but gruesome to see hundreds of dead sea stars lying on the beach. Apparently a "wasting disease" of uncertain origin in clobbering sea star populations all along the Pacific Coast.  You can read about it HERE. The seagulls don't seem to eat them, so they were just everywhere.

Another things I am thinking about: The Oakland mayor's race.  Two things happened this week. Mayor Quan had a minor accident, and some witnesses claim she was looking at her cell phone. She denies it, but this seems reasonably easy to figure out. I read today that her office is still considering whether to release her phone records. She had an earlier fender bender this year, and she's been caught on tape/photo using her cell while driving in the past. While this is not completely related to her governance, it demonstrates poor judgment. The other news is that Rebecca Kaplan has entered the mayoral race. I have supported Rebecca in the past but I am not enthusiastic about this. I will try to do more research on the mayoral candidates so you don't have to.