Welp, our plans were thwarted twice in as many days. On Saturday, we’d planned to explore the lower portion of Big Sur and see the elephant seals. On our way, though, our brakes decided to poop out on us! Luckily, we had just come off the interstate so we were moving fairly slowly and were able to safely coast to a stop on the side of the road. Thankfully, my parents give my siblings and…
This morning we left our 3rd farm stay in central California and started the trek to our final farm stop in Arizona. We’ll take a week to get there and explore a good bit of southern CA along the way. If you’ve been following along, you know that the main focus of this past farm was goats. We both learned how to milk goats by hand and AC learned how to trim hooves. And, on…
This past weekend we explored a little bit of Monterey, a good bit of Carmel-by-the-Sea, and most of Big Sur. We started with Monterey and Carmel on Friday. We wandered down Cannery Row and wove in and out of shops before landing at happy hour at Hula’s Island Grill where we had tiki-themed cocktails and fish tacos. On our way to Carmel, we drove the scenic 17-Mile Drive. We ogled massive houses on one side…
Last weekend we ventured out to explore. Friday night we went to happy hour in nearby Capitola. I had mahi mahi with delicious island rice (aka, coconut rice), and artichokes–neighboring Castroville is the artichoke capital of the world! AC had clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Then we walked the cute streets of Capitola Village, saw the iconic and colorful beachfront houses, and watched some surfers do their thing. Saturday, we explored Pinnacles National…
We arrived at our third farm stay on Sunday, about midway between Santa Cruz and Monterey. We were greeted by Lorraine, our host, and her boyfriend, Ben. Lorraine gave us a quick orientation of her setup, then we unloaded the truck and settled into our bedroom. We’re in an actual house this time so the temperature is much easier to regulate than the yurt we were in at our last stop. The rooster, however, is…
We’ve had many many great experiences on our adventure, but that luck ran out on Thursday. It was a rough day. That’s life, I guess; you hit a bump every now and then. Thursday started in Fort Bragg, CA we went on a railbike ride through the coastal woods. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great experience. The tour started late because we had to wait on some tardy arrivals. Then, at the midpoint of the ride,…
The past two days have been all about California’s northern national parks. On Tuesday, we explored a bit of Redwoods National and State Parks. We hiked the Karl Knapp and Foothills Trail loop which led us down an easy, 2-mile path that meandered through groves of massive redwood trees. Coastal Redwoods are the tallest trees in the nation! Below the towering canopy was a plethora of large ferns and some trickling creeks. It was a…
Today we left the sheep farm in Oregon to head to our next stop in California, but not before exploring the coast. Saturday we met up with AC’s friend Joy. You may remember from a previous post we met her for lunch the same day we arrived at our Oregon Workaway. Anyway, we met Joy at her apartment complex, jumped in her car and headed west to the coast. Our first stop was in Newport…
This past Sunday was sheep shearing day! It was an adventure, to say the least. After AC and I got back from church, Andy (sheep shearer extraordinaire) arrived and we geared up to help wrangle sheep. Andy set up shop on some plywood that we put down under the lean-to end of the barn. He hung his shearing rig, which was surprisingly small, from a hook on the wall. Meanwhile, Samantha and I got to…
It was another fun-filled weekend in Oregon! The week was pretty typical with the exception of AC’s run-in with a yellow jacket nest as she was cutting down blackberry bushes. She got stung on the finger and one arm before she made out of the berry patch. Then, when she got to the yurt, one got her on the other arm. As she was heading to the main house for ointment, one got in her…