Humboldt Wildlife

 

We continued to have lovely weather and got to do some nice wildlife viewing the past two days.

On Monday, we drove up to Klamath (which is actually just across the border in Del Norte County but still included on the '101 things to do in Humboldt' list!) to go on a jet boat tour, the sign for which we have passed numerous times on highway 101.

Gettin' ready (you can see our [blue] boat in the background). We actually talked them into letting

Pep come with us and sit on our lap/ in her sling :)

We saw a bunch of harbor seals sunning themselves on the estuary bank.

Great Blue Herons were everywhere!

 

 

Beaver Dam (sans beaver)

Bald Eagles also abounded.

What was as amazing as the numbers of eagles we spotted (I'd never seen so many!) was the great blue sky and the warm temp!

We weren't sure if this was a Golden or young Bald Eagle (any ornithologists out there? JB?)

Since my parents hadn't yet been through a Drive-Thru Redwood, we had to take them to one!

The bathroom was in a 8 ft. (vertical) log.

 Across the street were emus...

...which got close enough to peck us through the fence (although they didn't)!

On the way home, near Elk Meadow, we saw the famous Roosevelt Elk herd right off the roadside!

Today, we visited the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge south of Eureka.

Tsunami Hazard Zone!

We saw lots of egrets, a red hawk flying, and perhaps some geese? (as I mentioned above, bird-identification is not my forte!)

It was a great couple of days for wildlife!

My Parents are Here!

My parents are about two weeks into their five-week U.S./Canada roadtrip and are here in Arcata! They drove from Virginia to Minnesota, where they attended my cousin Derek's graduation Open House and Grandma's 90th birthday party last weekend and then headed westward to be here by Friday evening.  While they spent a bit of time here in Humboldt Co. after our residency graduation in 2011, this is the first time they've visited us since we've lived here. After a very busy week on call, I have been lucky to have the weekend (plus two additional days) off to spend with them (Kelvin, of course, has also been off this weekend).  We've also had uncharacteristically sunny weather, just in time for their stay!  It has been wonderful!!

On Saturday, we hit the Arcata Plaza and Farmers' Market.

It was apparently National Lemonade Stand Day, so we lots of kids' lemonade stands around the downtown. Here is our neighbor, Espe, outside the Arcata Co-Op.

We spent the afternoon at Mandy and Sam's house for a barbeque, where we ate yummy grub,  played some badminton, and socialized.  The dogs also had a good time!

Pepper, Archie (the lab) and Johnson (the long-haired dachshund)

We finished Saturday attending a Humboldt Crabs (baseball) game (alas, no photos. My dad has taken a TON but I can figure out how to get the card reader to work on my Mac!).

Today, we drove the Avenue of the Giants.

(Kelvin obviously had our camera about 100% of the time, as I realize he's in 0% of our pictures!)

 

We stopped at the Julia Morgan Four-way Fireplace/Hearthstone for the first time (continuing to check off things on our list of "101 things to do in Humboldt. Co"  and had a lovely picnic lunch.

(Pepper also enjoyed her snack)

We hit Ferndale and Loleta Cheese Factory on our way home, before relaxing and watching the French Open.

Late afternoon, we visited Trinidad and the Lighthouse as well as Trinidad Head.

On Trinidad Head

We finished our day with a delicious meal (3/4 of us had the sauteed crab, which was marvelous) at one of the best and our favorite restaurants in the area, Larrupin Cafe in Trinidad.

(The appetizer board... mmm!)

We are loving having our family here (miss you, V!)!