Abalone Feast

If you recall from a post back in October, I had been wanting to try abalone, a type of mollusk, since moving to the north coast, where abalone diving is a revered pastime.  The father of one of the kids Kelvin and Josh coached in basketball this winter/spring gave us some abalone to try which was kept frozen until a special occasion.

Mendocino Red Abalone

Last week, Josh and his friend Mio came over to share in the feast!

We tempura-d various veggies and (pounded) abalone, which, although a bit chewy, was tasty (but does anything taste bad coated in crumbs/flour and fried in peanut oil?!).

Josh, slicing

 

 

Kelvin, slicing

Mio also sauteed the abalone with garlic, white wine, and fresh clams, which was also delicious!

 

 

Somehow, I was able to get away with eating (and taking photos) rather than cooking, which makes the evening a doubly huge success!

Russ Park and a swim in the pond

We continued to have great weather on Sunday and headed south to the Victorian town of Ferndale.
We hiked in Russ Park, a city hilly park with nice views over the surrounding farmland-- Ferndale is dairy country!

We came across Zipporah's Pond.... where I took this nice pensive photo of K and Pep...

... which was followed by a (doggie) swim in the pond (I think Pepper thought the pond scum was grass?). She, however, proceeded to paddle around quite expertly, putting to rest our doubts of her swimming ability!

Bedraggled

 

shaking off the water

Farmland vistas

We also stopped by Centerville Beach, where Pep enjoyed frolicking in the sand. We wondered whether, after her pond swim, she'd want to catch a wave or two, but she seemed to be a bit alarmed by the sound of the crashing, and came close to the tide, but then would dart away.

Here's to (perhaps?) the start of real spring/summer in Humboldt County... hoping for more sunny weather like we had this weekend!

Trees of Mystery

 

On Saturday, we did a little "touring," this time out of Humboldt County to Del Norte County to our north.  We visited the "Trees of Mystery" roadside attraction in Klamath, CA, where we could (in dog-friendly fashion) walk among more redwood giants and ride a gondola above the canopy.

At the entrance, we were greeted by massive Paul Bunyan and Babe figurines (doesn't Pep look tiny?!).

"Family Tree" (with little trees growing upwards from the branches from the same tree!)

 

Lightning Tree

Nature's Underpass

Cathedral Tree, under which many people get married!

Paul Bunyan Wood Fresco

Giant Bear (and bearcub)

Old tree trunk with milestones noted from hundreds- a thousand years ago

"Pooped Logger"

J.P. Stumpy

Riding the SkyTrail

View from the SkyTrail

View from the Top

We then finished our afternoon with a 3.5- mile hike in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park on the Brown Creek/Rhododendron Trail. 

Pepper was pooped by the end of the day, but was a real trooper!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

4/20 ("Weed Day!")

Yesterday, Mandy told me, "Tomorrow is a holiday!"

I could not figure out what she meant. Did I miss a major national holiday in April?  I am a fan of Earth Day (4/22), but I was certainly unaware of the 4/20 holiday...

... much like I was unaware of the marijuana phenomenon for which Humboldt County is famous, before we really spent any time here.

Apparently (if you didn't already know-- I seem to be a bit naive!), "420 or 4/20" is an important date/time in cannabis culture, probably dating from the 1970s in California when it was used as a code time for pot-smoking.  If interested, you can read more about the phenomenon here.

Mandy warned me that, on this date, I should beware of doing any hikes in the forest (lest we get swallowed by a cloud of smoke) and to be prepared to see more (than the usual) hitchhikers coming/going from this Marijuana Mecca.

Needless to say, we did not celebrate this holiday. We walked around McKinleyville for Arts Night and then had a quiet night at home, free from the 4/20 festivities.

Pep and the Pony

We have had a bout of rainy weather, but when it cleared up last week, we took Pep to the town of Blue Lake for a walk near the casino, where we enjoyed 25c wings on Wednesday.

It was really fun to watch her "meet" this horse...

...saying'hi'...


...getting in close...


...sticking her nose through...


...touching noses...


....lying down in the grass...


...standing up and trying to get through the fence!









It would have been fun to see what she would have done without an interfering fence! I hope this makes her do better with large dogs.