By Shannon Williams
Well, it is late Sunday night and I am writing this from my cousin’s house in Oakland, California. I left Thursday for the West Coast for both work and play. I flew into Oakland late that night and the next morning; across the bridge we go into San Francisco for me to get on a little plane to fly up to the northern California Redwood country to see my son and his wife (and my two grand dogs!) I have been to Eureka before but usually drive from the Bay Area. Flying in and seeing all of the trees and rivers from up above was breathtaking. I was picked up by my son and off to see the new home they purchased this past year. Eureka is in the heart of the U.S. Redwood Coast. It is filled with redwoods, the world’s tallest trees, and the stunningly rugged remote ocean coast along the Pacific Ocean. His house is surrounded by Redwoods and Douglas Fir trees as far as the eye can see, but the eye can also see the Humboldt Bay which has several rivers which flow into it and then out to the Pacific. So, he has the best of it all, wonderful trees, and the rugged north coast of California.

It is a good thing that he picked me up at the airport, as there is a very steep hill that one has to drive up to get to their home on Humboldt Hill. I could never have driven it. I had my eyes closed most of the drive up. The next morning, I was taken for a drive though the Avenue of the Giants, in my son’s, new to him but old, sports car!! He had put together a playlist just for this drive! It had some of my father’s favorites, such as the Wabash Cannonball and King of the Road, along with a few for my mother’s, and ones that were new to me. I tried not to squeal to much as we drove fast along the road while going under the canopy of trees. It was a ride like none other than I had been on before, wonderful scenery to look at, great music and great conversation with my son, after being apart way too long.

On Sunday morning, we took a hike along a great trail that had a paved walking trail, but you could venture off on little rugged trails for as much as you wanted. My two sweet grand dogs, Zoe and Katie joined us on the this walk and we were just so happy to be out in the sunshine on a lovely Sunday morning.

There was great food, visiting, and just being together all weekend. I baked a cake for his upcoming birthday. Before I left to return to the Bay Area Sunday afternoon, we had lunch at a great little dive, which had the best seafood chowder I have ever eaten.

The visit was way too short and such a long time in coming. I will be back to the airport in the morning and fly to Portland for work. I am already planning my next trip back in mid-summer and have a list of things I still want to do. I found a few golf courses among the redwoods for Paul to play on when he joins me for my next trip.

Life is too short…play hard, dream big and be kind to one-another.