Finally arrived, after our epic journey in the Honda Accord, to a place that was new to me but that I’ve heard of and visualized so many times: Arcata, Humboldt County, California.
First drove through, saw the many one-story and some two-story houses, and plants by the sidewalks blowing around and branches whipping against the oncoming ocean breeze. The center of the town was a main square surrounded on each side with little boutiques, cafes and bars. I heard this description in the past and now it came to life in front of my deranged eyes.
Our friend took us down to the beach, which had the wonderful Pacific rock formations that we had to climb down to really appreciate this ocean view.
We enjoyed sitting on the driftwood and being able to enjoy the not-too-hot weather after hours and hours of sitting in the car. We hiked up through the jagged rock edges and of course our shoes got filled with sand, all the while enjoying the interesting scenery of woods and rocks and shore.
We hiked through the uphill forest and saw dense vegetation complemented by thick slugs wrapped around shrubs. Walked through more diverse geological formations and more carved-out, shady forest trails to get to a very windy area in order to watch the extreme winds crash strong waves against the upstanding sea rocks.
Our second day there was all about the plants, indoors and outdoors. We hiked through the local Redwood park, which was a strange contradiction of old and new. There were insanely wide Redwood trunks that had obviously been logged, and then relatively new Redwoods growing strong all around them, tall but not as thick nor as mighty as their reduced ancestors.
The hike ended up leading us to Humboldt State University, where we explored the campus’ science facilities. This college apparently has a very advanced science program, since there is a huge greenhouse themed after the flora of different climates, whether jungle or desert or temperate.
This self-contained and pre-planned ecosystem was an interesting island within the midst of many different natural areas that surround in its few-mile radius. Different smells and textures from locations around the globe were brought together in this department’s laboratory. It was a pleasant surprise to me to bump into a mini flower conservatory in the middle of such a place.