Memorial Day Weekend – Escape to the Redwood Curtain

I am grateful that this Memorial Day weekend, I decided to not do my normal pattern of working but instead took some much needed time off and my husband and I escaped to the north and what is called the Redwood Curtain.
As one goes north from our home, the redwoods increase and the wildness of the rivers that have not been dammed for electricity support the diversity and magic that is what our world used to feel like in many more places.
The Northwest is still one of the remaining bastions of land that has remained pretty much the same and those that own this land have taken it upon themselves to be the stewards for that land.
And they have managed to remove Nuclear Power Plants and cleaned up the messes from the lumbar and mining industries of the last two centuries.
My husband was inspired as a child and knew that his place was in northern California rather than the chaos of southern California where he was born. Early on he took the risk to leave the familiar behind and move to a place that wanted to live a more natural and organic life with the land rather than to destroy and control the land.
Many in this area picked a lifestyle rather than money.
I believe that such a thing is a very wise choice to make.
We came to see the Kinetic Sculpture Race which was started in 1969 in Arcata, CA. It is a race that is run off of human power rather than machines using gas or electricity. It is a 50 mile race that goes over land, sand, water, and mud.
There are many creative designs and there is much hoopla and it is an atmosphere of playful costumes, there is a space for creative expression. It has the atmosphere of a festival rather than a race. It lasts three days and starts in the square in Arcata. Then the machines and people head out to the sand dunes, over to the bay and finally finish in Ferndale.
We watched the beginning in Arcata and the water entrance into the bay as they go up the river. Today, we are heading back and plan to spend some luxurious time in the Avenue of the Giants to commune with the big trees.

Yesterday afternoon we headed over to the Finnish Spas and soaked in the hot tubs there that have been an Arcata staple since 1982.

It was a lovely place to just soak and hang out. Perfect temperature (as I don’t do well in too much hot water). And in this area in the summer. it is often overcast and cool. Perfect weather for me.

I can’t wait to head out to be with the big trees. After all, I am a fairy of the Redwoods. And I look forward to listening to the wisdom of these giants so that I can reclaim that beauty, wonder, and magic that they offer once again.

~Suzanne Wagner~