Eureka Continued

Day 14: 8/22/14

Eureka continued

Mileage: I never left the house J

People: 4

Dogs: 2

Baby: 1

                Today was a stay at home, snuggle the baby, and eat cookie dough on the couch kind of day. I showered because it was there, changed into a fresh t shirt and took my rightful place on the couch where Cuddles and I watched Charlie and Coach Bombay lead the Ducks to victory. Also, if you peel the cookie dough log, you can eat it like a banana. It was delicious. I made honey lime chicken enchiladas for dinner and we babysat while Joan & Nick had their first night out sans baby. I came out of the shower to hear Brandon inform me that the baby threw up on him and he thinks she pooped her pants. He did not know how to change a diaper. He’s a fast learner…We rounded out the night with more TV watching and sleeping in an actual bed.

                We’ve been watching a lot of Penn & Teller’s Bullshit! while at Joan & Nick’s. While its very entertaining, we saw a lot of dumb hippies in their mecca, Sedona, on the show. There were people talking about dolphins and apparently, for like $90 a session for 6 weeks, you can channel your inner dolphin in some crazy lady’s living room in Sedona. That episode also included dolphin assisted water birth in the ocean.

Day 15: 8/23/14

Eureka continued

Mileage: Ask Nick. He drove.

People: 4

Dogs: 2

Baby: 1

                Started the morning off with a wonderfully warm shower and then we all climbed into the car for a trip North to Redwoods National Forest. Joan is a terrible navigator. There I said it. Too bad Joan. It’s true. Hysterically true. (She’s sitting on her couch and as she reads this screams, that’s not true, and Nick says yes it is. Bet you $20.) “We passed this big tree and there was a sign for it.” I thought today was the day Nick might murder her. She navigates like I do: by landmarks. Which is not an effective navigational strategy when every landmark is a huge tree…in a forest…of huge trees.  Eventually we found the sign (which to Joan’s credit, was facing the opposite direction we were traveling) and pulled into the grove we were looking for. We saw Big Tree. It was big. Not giant, like Giant Tree. To give you an idea of how awesomely old and enchanted this forest is, it’s actually the same forest where part of Jurassic Park and the Ewok forest scenes were filmed, so picture that. There very easily could be dinosaurs or big foot hiding somewhere in there. It just feels…old. Moss covered branches, ferns taller than I am, dimly lit trails, sunlight streaming through holes in the forest canopy.

                In the spirit of all the weird TV we had been watching, Brandon and I discussed the subject of good/crappy horror films and while in the woods, the idea for “Attack of the Wood Beavers” was born. It’s become something of a joke between us that every time we see a stack of tree branches cut down I inform him “wood beavers” are present. Well, there were stacks and stacks of trees being cut down for whatever reason and I thought, man those wood beavers sure are active around here. Combine this with the old, creepy feel of the forest and it was really just a hop, skip, & a jump to giant mutated beavers that come out of the woods to gnaw off unsuspecting hikers’ legs. To give credit where credit is due, Brandon was the one that suggested the team hunting the evil carnivorous beavers would happen upon a dam made of these bloody stumps of legs & arms.  I really hope to see this made into a movie some day. You all know you would go see this and I would be a millionaire. We also discussed the idea of horror movie titles that sound like pornos and I think this would work to our advantage in this case. 50% of people would come thinking it was porn and 100% would leave satisfied regardless.

                We walked a short loop then got back in the car to continue the search for elk we were promised. We couldn’t find the herd, which is the largest herd of Roosevelt elk in the country, but we did see one elk butt in the clearing, so win.