I found a map to all of the painted fire hydrants around Arcata, so spent an enjoyable hour wandering around checking them out. They are all different and so much fun!
I also saw some awesome metal sculptures and paintings on my morning wander.
spent the morning on a couple of webinars, one was an Interim Executive Director Academy that I am considering. It sounds like an informative and practical program that would be helpful in my search for interim ED work, apparently the need for interim nonprofit exec staff has been increasing especially since the pandemic.
Annemarie and I met one of her friends for lunch in old town Eureka, a beautiful restaurant near the waterfront that was part of an old hotel. Afterword we had a look around old town. One store that I checked out had local residents art all over the walls and the owner showed me her secret art gallery tucked away in an annex next to the checkout counter. Very cool! We stopped at an ice cream store that another friend had recommended. They do ice cream flights ! So we got a flight of eight and tried a whole bunch of different ice creams, including English breakfast tea, pistachio, honey nut, crème brûlée, and my favorite, raspberry jalapeño!
We headed home on Friday, Annemarie made a yummy breakfast for both of us and I had one last walk around Arcata, this time in the rain. I passed a free little wildflower art gallery and found out there are more scattered around Arcata and the surrounding communities. I wish I had known that earlier, I definitely would have looked for more of them!
We decided to take the long scenic route home via the Lost Coast. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive going through foggy redwood forests, stunning black sand beaches on the coast (which luckily was not foggy) and beautiful views of the valleys below. It was a very rough road, in fact in several spots it was just gravel and mud. I think we crossed about a half a dozen one lane bridges and a few sections of one lane road. At one point a bobcat crossed the road in front of us! Our journey ended going through a section of Humboldt Redwood State Park, those amazing trees are such a peaceful, calming presence.
Once we were back on Highway 101 we saw about 2 dozen brightly colored sports cars going the other direction, I’m guessing there was some kind of rally going on. They all look like they were staying within the speed limit, I’m sure they are a magnet for the CHP! We stopped off at the Geyserville Sculpture Park just off of Highway 101. There was a group of people putting together a spaceship! We both loved the creative, fun sculptures.
It was good to finally get home and be out of the car. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to spend that time with Annemarie and that she could catch up with friends and enjoy being back in Arcata.