Sunday, January 8, 2012

A Full House (Trinidad, Samoa, and a weekend of hosting!)



We have had a full house in Arcata this weekend. Kelvin and I were both on call (he on phone triage, me on OB call) and so we had to stay local, but were fortunate to have our residency friends Kimie (who is here for 2 weeks doing a rotation with Kelvin) and Wai Kiu, Hanh, and Mason here up from Oakland. While I did have rounding and one delivery and K had quite a lot of patient calls, we did have a good amount of time to spend with our guests.

On Saturday, we took them up to Trinidad, the picturesque coastal fishing town north of here, which is one of the oldest (and smallest-- the 2010 census had its population at 367!) incorporated towns in California. We had heard good things about, but had never made it to Trinidad Head, a peninsula of land with great ocean vistas. We all (including Mason, and Pepper) enjoyed the beach at Trinidad, views from the overlook trail, and the weather (50s and sunny!).















Pseudo-family


Only Asians ruthlessly ask other unsuspecting hikers to take group shots...


We stopped at Katy's smokehouse for some locally-smoked seafood (sturgeon, oysters, salmon) to take home.



We then took the crew to the Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, which, as you can see from this plaque, is the oldest surviving and operating cookhouse in the West, opening in 1893. Formerly the Hammond Lumber Company Cookhouse, it was the official cookhouse for the men employed in logging in redwood country.


We had a very hearty meal served family-style, including soup, salad, awesome freshly-baked bread, roast beef, beans, peas, coffee, tea, and pineapple cake for dessert. MMM.



Kelvin has been coaching a kids' basketball team in Eureka with games on Saturdays.
We attended to support them, and here are some shots of him and his little third- and fourth-graders who, despite a great effort, lost 8-16 to their opponents.






Josh (co-coach) giving some more advice


Mason and Kimie played a bit in our neighborhood park:



(This kiddie rock wall is awesome!)


... and we then enjoyed dinner and a relaxing night at home, with the others watching and me sleeping through "Planet of the Apes."

Here are some pictures of Mason interacting with Pepper:

Two cuties


(wondering what to do with the detangler)


Mason wanted to share the dog bed...


.. which worked for a little while.


But Mason leans back...


... and she is outta there!


Today, Kelvin took everyone to the Victorian town of Ferndale as well as to see the big trees at the Avenue of the Giants, while I had to stay back in order to be closer to the hospital. Here are some great shots of the fun I missed, taken by the great Wai Kiu!





Mason in the tree house!


Who wants to be our next visitors?

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