Vacation -- Day 2

 We woke up at a reasonable hour the next morning and decided to head to the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park section of the Redwood National Park.  It was beautiful to drive into.  

By Smith River

We started off with breakfast at Hiouchi Cafe.  It looks like a simple Denny's or Chubby's type diner from the outside.  The portions are similar to those chains and the menu is similar, but the quality was really good.  It was super busy.  We had to wait for seats, and we still got there before an even bigger rush.  

After breakfast, we dropped into the Hiouchi Visitor's Center to get an idea of where the best quick hike would be and to buy some souvenirs.  Ro wanted to buy a bunch of different books because the covers were really pretty.  I tried to explain that they were books that we could either get from the library or there was no way he could talk me into reading a field guide on snakes from cover to cover.  I think we have enough other nature guides (flowers, birds, mammals, shells) to read at home instead.  We went on a quick hike to the Smith River.  We got there too late for a nature talk and the parking lot was very full.  We settled for a spot just outside of the the designated parking lot, which worked out because it just got even more busy after that.  After the hike, we took a slow drive down Howland Hill Rd.  If you don't have time to do anything else in the forest, you definitely need to take that drive.  

Ro with his rock stash

Once we got back into town, we drove out northwest to Tolowa Dunes State Park.  B waited in the car for a little bit due to some stomach problems before meeting us on the beach.  The beach was so huge, it was easy to feel like we were the only ones in our area even though people were walking back and forth down by the beach.  Ro discovered that he could slip around the sand and called it "sand skating."  He also collected a bunch of rocks and shells.  I told him he needed to leave them when we left because the animals and the environment still needed those.  

While B was in the car, I checked out a list of bike shops in the area to find a replacement bike wheel for B's road bike.  It looked like a lot of the local ones closed for whatever reason, and I knew that the Big 5's and Walmart wouldn't be able to replace a wheel with a cassette.  The closest place I could find was Escape Hatch Sports in Brookings, Oregon.  The owner said he luckily had everything to build a rear wheel with a 9-gear cassette for a little over $150.  He also had a similar attitude to a lot of the old farmers I deal with at work.  I tried to pin him to an appointment time when he would have the wheel ready.  

Me: When do you think it'll be ready?
Him:  Well, it depends on how busy it gets here since my help isn't here yet.  The lions and tigers are here and I suppose the bears will be next.
Me: Google says that you close at 5pm.  Should we show up around 4pm?
Him:  Is that what it says?  People have been telling me to update my website.  Like I need another thing to do on top of all of this.  

And so on.  Eventually, he told me to call back in a couple hours (I called after 1pm) to see how far he got.  I took off my sandals, rolled up the cuffs of my jeans and pulled up a book on my phone while Ro continued rock collecting and sand skating.  By the time B joined us, I told him the good news.  We had debated back and forth about buying B a new mountain bike instead since he had been looking into getting into mountain biking, but there was not enough room in the car for three bikes and it would cost $200 to ship the road bike back.  Google had said that a replacement rear wheel would be about $200.  I figured that buying the wheel would least compromise the trip.  Around 3pm, the owner said he hadn't had time to work on the wheel, but it should be ready around 4pm.  We packed Ro into the car and headed back to the hotel to pick up B's bike before heading to Brookings.

The drive to Brookings was really nice.  Brookings is like day to Crescent City's night.  I'm not sure if it has anything to do with being in Oregon or because they are far enough away from the tourists at Redwood National Park.  I think we would consider staying there instead of Crescent City if not camping at the park the next time we take a coastal trip.  

By the time we got to Escape Hatch Sports, Ro was asleep from playing by the beach.  B ran into the store to pick up the tire.  When he didn't return right away, I picked up Ro still sleeping from the car and walked in.  The owner had been talking to Brandon the whole time.  Eventually, the conversation went to Taiwan and China, and we realized we didn't need anything else.  About $175 later, B had a new bike wheel.  He popped it on the bike and rode it around for a little bit to make sure it worked while I checked out places to eat on Yelp.  We ended up going to Superfly Martini Bar and Grill.  It was another place that didn't look like much from the outside, but the food was pretty good.  I had woken up Ro for dinner.  He was a little grumpy but didn't fuss.  I think the trick is making him walk for a bit (like across the parking lot) rather then plopping him down and then waking him up.  

It was still evening by the time we got back to the hotel.  We decided to set the bikes up and ride down the bike path along the marina to test B's new wheel.  We've been watching a lot of the races on the Global Cycling Network lately -- mostly road races and cyclocross -- and B and Ro started following some of women's cyclists.  Maybe following isn't the right term because it's more like they've invented stories about the women's cyclists.  Ro knows Lucinda Braun as someone who throws things at other Trek bicyclists when she gets angry at them.  He knows another cyclist as someone who beat up the other girls at her Swiss boarding school.  Well, B's new wheel had a red tire.  Having different tires is some kind of faux pas in the racing world.  So, Ro had fun yelling at B, "Look at Daddy with his red tire! Lucinda Braun is going to see and throw a hot water heater at you!"  He did that until we found the city park where Ro played for about ten minutes until he got too cold.  Then we settled back in at the hotel for the night.

Biking near a lighthouse with B’s new red wheel

The last notable thing that happened was Ro explaining to us when he saw the corded hotel phone that these were the phones people used “in the olden days.” 🤦‍♀️

I love you and miss you.