Confluence of The Smith

On March 30 I wrote that I slept until 10 and got on my host‘s bike and rode out to the only worthwhile cafe in Crescent City. The coffee shop experience was the same as the day before. However, the coffee shop abruptly closed and so I went back to the house to be alone for a few hours.

When my host had returned from work, he told me he had a few things to do but we chose to go to Elk Valley in his car then. I bought some Fritos and beer and we went to Smith Redwoods. We got great pictures, and the trees are huge.

He drove us to the confluence of the Smith and then later we went to the brewery. We barely made it with time to eat. We tried a couple of beers before we headed back to the house to play boggle and listen to our favorite music.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Beer and Fritos

On March 29, 2023, I wrote that the previous Monday I arrived by bus in Crescent City from my brother’s house in Oregon. I rode my brother’s extra bike to Dutch Brothers holding an umbrella - there was a giant storm system jost off the coast. My host, an old classmate, met me there and we got in his car and drank coffee on the way to his house. The rain was heavy, but OK. We hung out for about an hour and a half – catching up, looking at stuff.

We went to the brewery, but it was crowded so we went to the Mexican place. We tried everything and played pool. There were a couple of ladies at the restaurant. When we were finished we went to the liquor store. When we got to the house, we had beer until late.

In the morning of the day before I wrote this, I had a coffee with my host. He gave me a key and headed to work. I had a couple of hours, so I was lazy for a bit, but ended up rushing to set up for my meeting which turned out to have been canceled.

The power went out due to the wind from the storm, but I had my tether and battery power. Apparently the downed powerline was in the area of my brother’s house in Oregon. My host told me about the camp stove in his garage so I made coffee and did a couple of other things. The house was very cold and the rain started in earnest. I did some work.

The rain persisted and I took a nap. When the power came back on, I noted that the rain had improved. My host showed up after a while and he suggested we look at the surf on South Beach. We drove through town and I noted that the harbor was cold. It was fun looking at the views. There were pipes draped across the parking lots there. I remembered the dolos and my host showed me where the dolos had been placed along the jetty. We took pictures.

After that we stopped at the store for beer and Fritos. Then we ate the Fritos and rode up a big hill trying to get to Smith Redwoods State Park but it turned out to be gated. I finished the Fritos and my host told me he would take us a more direct way to the park along Elk Valley and Parkway.

First we just explored the way to the Smith River but later we walked around the river in the rain collecting rocks. I had my umbrella out. We visited two river shoals heavy with rocks. Then we drove back to the house.

A short while after that we checked out the brewery but they were very crowded again so we moved along and decided to go to the Mexican restaurant a second time. I noted that that time we had a nice waitress. We played more pool. I even asked if we could play a third game. We both sank the 8 ball a couple times and didn’t finish our last game. We returned to the house, and my host tidied and prepped for work, and we went to bed.

In the morning of the day that I wrote this my host woke at 6:30 but I didn't. He was gone by the time I got out of bed. Apparently I was snoring. He thought it was some recording of a frog. I got up at 9:15. I was late for a meeting. I was back-and-forth doing dishes and tidying or getting dressed. When the call ended, I packed to go. I rode my borrowed bike on local streets.

I went to the one good coffee shop in Crescent City. I had trouble getting a table, but had fun reviewing Twitter. I drank some coffee and I started chatting with a social media acquaintance back home in San Francisco about my brother’s bicycle. I had been on the fence about fixing it. I called around and learned there was no bike shop that seemed to be working. I had seen a bike shop in South Beach in Crescent City but I was skeptical since my host said that it wasn’t a very good spot. I spoke to a lady at the sporting goods shop in Brookings and she said I should go on Facebook. I decided to just look at the bike shop I had found in South Beach.

On the way there I had to ride in a way which avoided the worst of the 101 and ended up chatting with a cyclist who was headed to Patagonia.

A short while later I found the only bike mechanic in the city and he said he would tune my bike for 150 bucks. I gave him $30 and walked to Elk Street. That was where I frantically made change from a 20 and called the local transit agency to identify where the bus stop was.

Later I walked back to the house. A bunch of people had sent me messages via social media and phone trying to confirm the weekend with me.

My host showed up at 4:30 and went surfing. I watched the sunset and then we went out for Thai food. We went to the less popular brewery and then we sat at his house for a couple of hours looking at postcards.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Headed into Smith Redwoods

For several days in March of 2023 I traveled to Oregon and Northern California with my older brother and twin six year old boys.

We had prepared for the trip on the night of Thursday March 23 and I had gone to bed late after packing. The next morning, March 24, I got the boys up at 6:45 and my brother let me know he would meet me at the Ferry Building so we were leaving with plenty of time. The boys and I took the bus on Mission and we met my brother at the coffee shop. The boys were enthusiastic. They had all their stuff in their backpacks.

We boarded the Larkspur Ferry with no problem and I got a photo of the bridge. One of the boys was enthusiastic about the photographs. When we got off the boat we walked to the SMART train. The trip to Petaluma was unremarkable but fun – in fact the train was kind of empty. At Petaluma we went to the plaza, which is next to Starbucks but my brother insisted we go to the playground.

Later we went to the Amtrak Thruway Bus Stop and waited a bit extra because the bus was late. Then we settled in for a long ride. We had selected a spot in the middle of the bus until the boys discovered the front seat. Unfortunately, one of the boys fell asleep there. So, I moved him to a safer spot and sat in the front with the other boy.

We stopped in Ukiah. I went and got us some quesadillas and some smoothies. When we returned, we found that my brother had not purchased anything. My tweets about The Laughlin Range and pictures garnered a lot of interest. Willits and Laytonville were similarly interesting but for the rest of the ride we were nervous about connecting to the Crescent City bus.

I continued to sit in the front with the one boy until the other boy returned and we rode to Fortuna and Eureka that way. When it was clear that we would miss the 20 bus north to Crescent City, I had to make plans for when we arrived in Arcata–my old college town. I booked us a room at the hotel.

When we arrived at the stop and caught a glimpse of the Crescent City bus leaving we checked in. Then we went to the Japanese restaurant downstairs and had a delicious meal. I got us mochi and later my brother did bedtime. That was when I visited the bars on the square outside and relived a little of my youth. I went to bed at 11:30 and the boys were asleep.

The next morning, Saturday March 25, the boys got up early and I got up a bit later. My brother was with the kids for a bit and I met him at a cafe across the street for hot cocoa and a bagel. We headed to the bus station a short while later and caught the bus to Crescent City.

I barely noticed the ride to Crescent City and that made it really nice. The McKinleyville stop and Trinidad passed fast because I was setting the boys up in their seats but by the time we got to Orick, I was trying to get photos. I got Klamath River, Klamath, Glenn, and Del Norte redwoods. While on the road, we discovered that the 20 actually goes to Gasquet but we got off in Crescent City.

At the cultural museum in Crescent city I let the boys go to the playground. I went shopping and got coffee. When I was done, my brother showed up with his neighbor, who was giving us a ride. We packed everything up, got on the 199 and headed into Smith Redwoods. We stopped near the Park Visitor Center, but the rest of the drive was quiet.

The boys were drawing, which I thought was fantastic but fell asleep after that so missed when the snow was falling. When we got to my brother’s little town, we unpacked and I got the boys their warm clothes and then I went to see the neighbors who set me up in their extra room - my brother’s house only had enough to accommodate him and the boys.

The neighbors told the boys that they would find their radio controlled trucks and the boys immediately started making tracks in the dirt for them. My brother made them hotdogs and veggies. We enjoyed a meal. The boys settled in for bedtime, so I went back to the neighbors’ house for a drink and good conversation.

On March 26 I woke at 7:15 and drank the coffee my hosts offered me. I missed pancakes at my brother’s house but was able to make my own pancakes. We made plans and visited Cave Junction. The four of us went to the propane place, hardware store and I got some coffee on my own. Later we stopped at his office, where my brother had stuff to do.

When we returned to his place, he set up his propane and I sat with the neighbor fixing the spare bike. The boys came over and brought me back. The barrel adjuster on the bike was cracked but I made it work. I rode it around and my brother told me the story about losing the chain.

We had dinner then and my brother and I shared some beer. Later I found them playing dominoes. One of my boys was good, but wasn’t happy about losing. My other boy, after a few attempts, actually won one round.

When the boys went to bed, I went back to my room at the neighbor’s. We made some cocktails. One was called a “scofflaw,” and the other was the white creamy type of absinthe.

In the morning of March 27, I slept until 9:30 and texted with my old classmate in Crescent City about traveling to visit him. My hosts had made some coffee. I went to my brother’s house and had pancakes again. They were out collecting stones down by the river. I found them with a wheelbarrow on the trail north of the house. I was really impressed and noted that there are so many different types of rock in the Illinois River.

I got a scratch from sprouting blackberry and I gouged myself on a willow branch. We returned to the house and I made coffee and Cheerios. I did a few things later. My brother had the boys over at the neighbor’s house but later he made them a hotdog lunch.

I packed up and said bye to my host. Then I put the extra bike in my brother’s car and he took the boys and I to Cave Junction where they waved at me from the car until my bus left for Crescent City. I waved goodbye.

I noted my acquaintance in Crescent City had texted.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Meet Us at Ski School

On February 10, 2023, I wrote that the previous Wednesday night I drink ginger lemon tea after the boys had gone to bed. The lodge staff workers played ping-pong for a while.

I kind of deliberately didn’t set an alarm and we woke at 7:30. The boys went next-door and messed around. I got them dressed and the bell rang for breakfast. The chef had made vegan donuts and offered eggs and bacon.

I finished the coffee. I started packing and the boys went to the ping-pong room. Later they sat in the big while I got us packed. After I had located all of the missing mittens and socks we finished up and we said bye to staff.

On the way to the resort, we tried to keep a good pace since we were nearly out of time for their ski lesson. I noticed that the road has a couple of turns but it’s mostly up and down to the gondola.

The boys knew their way well enough. Some of the driveways don’t go anywhere. We made it to the garage and gondola fine and had 10 minutes. When we got off we were out of time and I ran – I left the boys to follow. We ran into a cat in the lodge parking lot. So I had to wait.

I was totally out of breath when we made it and the instructor was nearly ready to call it quits. However, we were able to get an hour with him. I ran and got the boys boards and swapped their boots while he spoke to them. I was ruined.

I dropped the bags and the instructor told me to come back at 12:15. I took the kiddy lift and later took a big lift with a great view of the train tunnel not Donner or Tahoe. I got stuck in a drift but later met the instructor and he told me about the lesson. One of my boys was holding a snowball to remind himself not to be hunched down. The instructor gave me some points on how to help them.

Initially we went up the conveyor but then the boys wanted to go up one of the neighboring lifts. They had trouble dismounting. My helping them go down slope also was a problem so I tried to give them space. One trip up the boys asked to go to the lodge so we stopped to eat. By this point their mother was getting near. I let the boys know and they were enthusiastic.


One of the boys headed back on to the slopes. The other boys was conflicted because his mom was coming but eventually he headed out too. That’s when their mom arrived. I gave her one of our radios and she met them on the kiddy slopes. That was when I tried to get a run in but one of the boys gravitated to me.

Then I ended up riding one of the bigger lifts with both boys. We conferred with their mom and agreed that she would meet us later. When she left I asked the boys to go up the biggest lift and we went against my better judgment. The first run down was great. We met a random lady. Then we one of the runs to the other side of the mountain - which was also great. At one point one of the boys noted that “this is the kindest he has ever been to his brother.”

From the top of the mountain then the boys took what seemed like an easy run but fell a couple of times - the low-grade had made it hard for them. Then we got to a steep incline and one of the boys freaked out. At first I tried to be helpful but eventually I was just angry and he ended up on his own. I wasn’t very nice either.

We mostly just let him lead and things were better than the previous run though there so it was a win. The last time he fell I collected the boards and dropped everything at the ski school. Their mother found me there and brought the boys their shoes.

We had hot cocoa at the lodge. Then I finished up and gave the boys a peptalk. We dropped off the bags and boots at the school and their mother’s borrowed car and I said bye to them.

After that randomly bumped into a friend at the bar in the resort lodge. I showed him pictures of the tunnels near tunnel four. We walked out together. I had texted with a coworker and he came to pick me up then. We spent a lot of time catching up – talking about work. I got photos of the train tracks and the lakes. We had fries at a bar in Truckee and checked out some of the local color. He told me about his new house.

After I said bye to my coworker, I walked to a hotel I had booked for that night and later went to a local restaurant for a sandwich.

In the morning of the day that I wrote this I woke at 9:30 and went to the diner across the street to have French toast. The train home was late so the morning was mostly watching families head out to the slopes. I boarded the Amtrak after a few hours of waiting.

On the train I sat in my seat for a while texting pictures of Donner Lake to people I knew. Then I sat in the café and chatted with tourists until Emigrant Gap. Later I sat downstairs and started writing.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

The Clair Tappaan

On February 8, 2023, I wrote that when my boys and I arrived on our train in Truckee, a cab was waiting for us and drove us to our Chalet on Donner Pass – The Clair Tappaan. We checked in and got to bed pretty easily.

The boys woke at seven naturally. We got dressed and breakfast was immediately ready. The other two people staying at the lodge were there eating with us. I was pining for coffee but the pot was cold – I heated it up with water from the boiler. There were pancakes and bacon. I was chatty. When the food was done it was 830 and we went to the room for a moment but quickly headed to Sugerbowl resort.

The highway was low traffic but we had a hard time. When we got passed the parking lot, we took the gondola to the village. I texted friends and then we went to Judah looking for ski school. No one knew what we needed to do so 45 minutes later a lady at ski school booked us an instructor for 11 the next day. They also gave us rentals and we headed out for a couple rides.

I don’t snowboard so I was not helpful. The boys hated my help so later I took them to the lodge and gave them hot cocoa. When we were done with that we climbed the Jerome Hill express and went on a good run. Then we jumped on another lift tree and one of the boys went to the wrong way.

He was really far ahead of us so I just took the boards and set them up on an easier run. However, I really pissed them both off and they were really upset when we got back to the ski school. I took them to the lodge for sodas and texted some pictures to their mom.

We went to the village a bit later. We took the gondola back and walked to The Clair Tappaan. We wound down for the evening and the lodge served us dinner – pasta for me and corn dogs for the boys. That night, it was just us at the lodge. I did laundry. The boys played chess in the Louis and Clark room.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

A Picture of The Plow

On February 7, 2023, I wrote that I woke to my alarm at six and got the boys dressed, grabbed our bags and hopped a 14 bus to the Amtrak bus. At Second Street I got myself some coffee and pastries for the boys. We got the front seats on the bus.

I took pictures of the ride and I posted to Twitter and mastodon. In Emeryville I had to go across the street to get a second coffee. My boys were displeased they didn’t get a cookies so I got them a snack at the station.

After we boarded our train to Truckee, I broke up the bags and found us good seats. Then I plugged in to my meeting for the workday. I set up all of the documents to review. However, by Davis the seating arrangement got stale so I switched to the snack bar. It was weird on this train because the snack bar had to be canceled so the train had two dining cars.

The boys only fought a little on the way to Roseville. I got the photos of Sacramento – the big yellow bridge. I got a picture of the plow too. I quit my meeting at Auburn because the reception was terrible. The boys rebelled at some point too but I bought them some chips and left them alone.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

The Biggest Tree had Fallen

On January 22, 2023, I wrote that I woke up at dad’s house and got the boys up before drinking coffee and going through laundry. I noted that the boys had made the bed. I folded towels and tidied until 1230 and then we headed out.

The three of us rode our bikes to Gus‘s and then we looked at the ocean. I showed them Montara Mountain from Great Highway at Noriega. We saw some acquaintances and then rode past the windmill and up Martin Luther King to Matson Lake. I noted that the biggest tree had fallen into the lake over the recent storms.

I established that we were meeting the boys’ mom at the Ferry Building so we rode to Conservatory Road where we enjoyed the view, some beverages and sat in the sun. After that we rode down Page Street to the apartment where I grabbed the boys new cameras and put the bikes away.

After that we put together a small bag and took an F to the Ferry Building. We saw a barista from Mercury Cafe on the way. We had a meal at Gott’s when we got off and shared our plans for the month. The boys were very enthusiastic.

 
This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.