South to Sunny California

Everything has seemed to start off on the right foot.

First stop: Portland, to see Jameson's brother, Julian.
As you can see, they seemed to have a great time together. Julian made a superb dinner. It was the first realization that, well, we're not going home!

Wednesday itinerary: PDX to Big Lagoon County Park, CA. During our lunch break, we pulled off 199 at a sign that said "Botanical Walk" and saw the endangered and endemic Darlingtonia californica (by the way, this is my new favorite plant genus to say), aka, the California pitcher plant. There are two main awesome things about this plant: it grows in serpentine soils where other plants cannot survive, and it is carniverous. Since it gets its nutrients from bugs, it is able to survive in places with extreme soil conditions.

Another random stop in northern Cali gave us a magnificent Roosevelt elk viewing. This, again, was a hint from a road sign that said, "elk viewing area." Surprisingly, there was this herd of about 20-30 elk, and the males were all going at it to be the one in charge. Evidently its the tail end of rutting season, and we got an amazing show!

The day ended at Big Lagoon, a gorgeous park north of Arcata. Unfortunately I didn't really break out the camera, but the moon was nearly full, and when walking on the long spit, to the west was the crashing Pacific, and to the east, a calm lagoon. We practiced putting up our hammocks that will be our beds when we're camping in SA, and slept in them for the first time.