Labor-free weekend (Tina and Danny visit!)

It was so awesome having a long weekend to relax. I’ve been feeling pretty toasted by my busy Monday call days lately (and call weekends), leaving me exhausted at the beginning of every work week, and I haven’t seemed to have been able to recuperate fully.

Tina and Danny, old friends from Orange County, came up last week and stayed through the long weekend with us. While they definitely had time to sleep and relax while we were working, we tried to take them around a bit when we were off from work (while definitely having a lot of time to nap and relax, too, including watching some epic U.S. Open tennis matches!).

They explored the Arcata Forest.

On Friday,  Kelvin took Danny and Tina to Avenue of the Giants.

 

In the evening, we had a casual drinks-and-badminton get together. We enjoyed the summer weather in our backyard!

 

It's never too early to start 'em on racquet sports!

 

Porch furniture getting some use!

 

On Saturday, we braved the recordbreaking temperatures and hit the morning Arcata Farmers’ Market.

 

After nap, we enjoyed Vietnamese food for dinner and pie at Humboldt Cider Works.

On Sunday, we hiked in Patrick’s Point State Park in Trinidad with Josh & Kay and Lori & Craig, where the views would have been stunning had it not been for the smoke from inland fires.

Banana slugs

Near Wedding Rock

 Hiking to Ceremonial Rock

Sumeg Village

 

On Monday, we picked apples at Fieldbrook Apple Farm (whichwe first visited exactly one year ago, when Katherine, Eddie, and Theresa were in town). It was again a hit!

 

   

 

Kelvin did the heavy apple pail- lifting

The owner gave us a tutorial on quartering the apples.

Everyone was very focused on not getting stung by yellow jackets!

Sneaking a slice




Juice-making

The press

Cheers!

 The other Asian fam!

We enjoyed such a relaxing time with these family-like friends!

Humboldt Heat (for our first time!)

 


Since living here in Humboldt County, I have never sweated as I did today in Arcata and McKinleyville. It was HOT, like 80 degrees at 8 a.m and close to 90 (or even hotter) at other times. In the summertime here on the North Coast, the highest it usually gets is somewhere around 68 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not sure if it was a fluke-- or global warning --or some sort of trapped heat from the smoke from wildfires east of us-- but it was hard to fathom. I don't wear shorts and tank tops here, but it was that kind of day. It felt recordbreaking-- and it was (check out the following article; emphases mine).

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Humboldt County experiences record high temperatures By Will Houston, Eureka Times-Standard

If today in Eureka felt unusually warm, that’s because the temperature tied for the all-time highest ever recorded going back as far as 1886, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Aylward in Eureka.

“This is very unusual warmth for the coast so we don’t think about it very often,” Aylward said.
Shortly before noon, the temperature recorded at the National Weather Service station on Woodley Island hit 87 degrees, tying the all-time record for Eureka originally set on Oct. 26, 1993, according to Aylward.


Temperatures are expected to remain high throughout the Labor Day weekend. Sunday’s forecast showed Garberville to have a high of 112 degrees, Orleans a high of 105 degrees and Eureka at a high of 79 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The Humboldt County Airport in McKinleyville reached 96 degrees this morning, breaking its all-time record of 94 degrees, Aylward said. Fortuna hit over 100 degrees after noon, according the weather service.

The heat caused the propane gas in the tanks on the back of Southside Mike’s Bar-B-Que’s food trailer to expand to the point that it began to leak, according to Humboldt Bay Fire Chief Bill Gillespie.


The incident prompted Humboldt Bay Fire personnel to temporarily block off the Gazebo area in Old Town Eureka as they hosed the tanks with water to cool them down. Gillespie said that once Southside Mike’s owner Michael Coan Ross started cooking, the gas levels would start to reduce more.

While some inland areas like Bridgeville are reaching temperatures in the high 90s, Willow Creek was in the 70s this morning.

“They’re shrouded there in the [wildfire] smoke,” Aylward said. “It’s the only benefit of having the smoke.”


Aylward called for local residents to stay hydrated during the heat.
“Once you’re in the 90s, it can get to you pretty fast,” Aylward said.