Vacation to Guerneville: Day 2
It was my second day in the beautiful mid-century modern house in the Redwoods of Guerneville. You can read about Day 1 and the drive up here.
I enjoy waking up early and was glad when my body woke me up at 6:30 AM. I gathered up a book and my computer and headed down the narrow spiral staircase.
In the kitchen, there’s a beautiful stainless steel kettle with wooden details. You press a button in the handle to open the spout. I placed it on the stove and let it heat up the water inside. Then I poured myself a glass of water and drank that.
Soon I had to use the bathroom, so I went back upstairs. When I was finished, I made my way back down, but slid on one of the steps. I jammed my toes and fingers as I scrambled not to tumble down completely.
It hurt. A lot.
Worst of all, there was no one to see the ridiculous slip so I have to deal with it myself.
Back downstairs, the kettle whistled to life and I poured myself a cup of peppermint tea. Then I walked (gingerly) to the outdoor balcony where I sat and started writing.
The smell is so delicious out there. Is there any way to describe the scent of trees? It is both earthy and fresh at the same time. I would stop typing every once in the while to close my eyes and just take in that forest smell.
There was also something moving in the brush to my right. I never saw what it was but I’m assuming it was a deer, walking and searching for food in the morning.
A dark barked again and again from a house down the road until a man shouted, “oh, shut up you ol’ bear!” which I found hilarious and have continued to say during this trip.
The toes of my left foot continued to throb and I hoped they weren’t broken. A broken toe is just so inconvenient. There’s nothing much you can do about them except wait for them to heal.
The morning was fairly cold, so after icing my toe and reading on the sofa for an hour, I decided to make use of the hot tub outside. I hobbled to the bathroom and changed into my swimsuit then went outside and sat in the warm water. At first, my toe throbbed worse than before, but after a while, the pain decreased and being in the hot tub felt nice.
Not long after that, my neighbor woke up and came downstairs. He came out to chat and we decided that it was time to go get breakfast and our groceries for the next few days.
We both got ready and, though I was moving slowly, managed to get out the door by 10:30 AM or 11:00 AM.
I knew I had my mom’s Zoom birthday party at 1:00 PM, so we had to get out and back home in a reasonable amount of time.
Luckily, Mainstreet was only a fifteen minute drive away.
We reversed onto the narrow road that winds around these woods and began to drive. At one point we came to a T in the road and continued to the left. We passed a man walking his dog who simply moved out of the way and smiled. We kept driving until we realized that this street was a dead end. We had to use the round-about to head back in the direction that we’d come.
We again passed the man walking his dog and he may have tried to say something to us, but we weren’t sure and kept driving. Going back in the right direction, we made sure to stay on the path until we reached the main street.
We drove down and across the Russian River, made a left on River Road, and found ourselves back on Mainstreet.
Once there, I struggled to park (it’s been a while since I’ve had to drive and park along a street), and went to the highly recommended Big Bottom Market. It’s a small market that feels like the coffee shops that we have back home in Hawaii. In fact, my neighbor even commented that the two baristas/cooks reminded him of the staff at Morning Brew cafe in Kailua.
We were incredibly pleased to find the place empty (something that makes time COVID times feel a lot more safe).
“This is the perfect time to come here,” my neighbor commented.
“Yes!” I agreed.
That is until we got to the counter. The Big Bottom Market is known for its biscuits so we tried to order a couple, only to find out that they had sold out of all but one biscuit. Apparently, this place was empty because the line had been out the door earlier this morning.
Luckily, we were able to snag one biscuit and I got a vegetarian sandwich and an iced Americano while my neighbor ordered a muffin and an oat milk latte.
Then we stood off to the side and waited for our meal. There’s a large canoe that is above the cash register and I saw on the wall that there was a paper that explained its history. Unfortunately, the only other customer in the market was standing in front of it, so I wasn’t able to go over and read it. I’m hoping that we’ll do another trip t Main street during our stay and I’ll get to discover what it said.
After we got our food, we walked back to the car and drove to the Safeway just up the road. Though it was only a two minute drive, with my toe aching and the amount of groceries we were sure to buy, it felt worth it to head over to the Safeway parking lot.
In Safeway, we got everything we needed for the few days that we’re up here. I have to say, after using Zero Grocery in San Francisco or heading to the Farmer’s Market, I was hyper aware of all the packaging that came with our food. There is just so much plastic involved in regular grocery shopping.
It was also interesting to see the mix of people who gathered in the Safeway. It reminded me somewhat of visiting my grandma’s house in Desert Hot Springs. There’s a mix of locals who seem a bit more rough around the edges, visiting young people who just want to party, and then some families.
There’s also the COVID factor nowadays. Some people keep a respectful distance while others seem flighty and simply walk up right behind you in line for checkout even though there are red markers for where you should be.
Our cashier was super friendly and it was my first time buying alcohol at a grocery store during COVID (I’ve basically stopped drinking during these past few months and am just now deciding that my anxiety has waned enough for me to enjoy a beer). I had to pull down my mask to show my nose for a second and thought it was incredibly strange how times have changed.
When we got to our car, we moved a space up to avoid the 20-year-olds who were hanging out and consolidating supplies for the river. None were wearing masks and they all looked like they were ready for some major partying.
We loaded up the car and headed back to the house in the Redwoods.
By the time we got back, we were both pretty ravenous. It was 12:30 PM and neither of us had eaten anything yet. We unpacked everything and put the items that needed to be refrigerated into the fridge. Then we ate our food from the Big Bottom Market (enjoying the tomato and goat cheese biscuit that was light, fluffy, and crumbled in your mouth).
By the time we finished eating, it was time for my scheduled Zoom call for my mom’s birthday.
I signed on and let all of the “Beach Chair Aunties” as I call her friends into the Zoom. But low and behold, my mom was not there. So, putting myself on mute, I helped her find the link for the Zoom call and showed her how to sign in.
It wouldn’t be a Zoom call with parents if someone wasn’t struggling to find out how to use Zoom.
I wonder what technology will be around when I’m in my sixties? I sure as hell don’t think I’ll be learning it. Hopefully, I’ll be living in a house like this out in the woods, not bothering to own whatever gadget those darn kids are using.
During the Zoom, we played a Guess Who game with some questions that the aunties had answered for me. It brought back a lot of fun memories for me and I hope it did for them as well.
At the end of the call, one my aunties introduced a new word that apparently my generation is bringing back (I’m already out of touch with my own generation. How am I supposed to know about anything the next generations are going to be doing?😂).
Eudaimonia - According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it is the condition of human flourishing or of living well. It’s from the ancient Greeks and the time of Aristotle. The modern English translation would be “happiness” but this is far from the full meaning of the word. It is, instead, “the highest human good, the only human good that is desirable for its own sake (as an end in itself) rather than for the sake of something else (as a means toward some other end).”
Anyway, I think I wrote about it in more detail (though still not enough detail in my opinion) here.
I also thought the concept fit well with an excerpt from a book I was just happening to read called The Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas. This book goes into detail about all of the different “maps” that make up the Bay Area and San Francisco. It is an atlas of perspectives. An ever-changing atlas. One that covers the different types of people and communities that inhabit this small West Coast metropolis. It looks at what it takes to create a map, the perspectives involved, and the stories of the people, landscapes, animals, terraines, etc. that are involved in a map. Needless to say, I bought the book and am so excited to finish it when I’m at home.
To finish off the day, after my mom’s birthday call, my neighbor and I genuinely started looking at homes in the area. If we both went in on it together, the price could be doable.
Then we watched a movie before heading outside to enjoy the last of the light in the trees while drinking beers and just relaxing. It was lovely. We watched hawks soar above (Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” was set not too far from here). We listened to the men doing construction work shouting at each other. We then noticed the silence of the forest when no one spoke, no dogs barked, and just the air moved through each branch.
Finally, it was time to eat some burgers (we tried Morning Star’s non-meat version) and enjoyed one last movie before it was time to turn in.
I meant to write a recap of day three, but instead created a recap video that you can watch here.
