Day 69 - Lost Coast, Found Friends
The drive down 199 to the Pacific coast is one of my favorites. Right where the highway meets the ocean is a stand of Redwoods that I like to visit each time I do this drive. This time, the stand was closed but we were able to park our car and just walk in - the only humans around. It was beautiful. Without humans, the undergrowth was in lush bloom; nobody spreading dust from SUV’s and nobody picking the flowers. I felt like a trespasser. I guess, technically, we were.
We ended up in Napa where we had a back-yard hangout with friends Janet & Mark, and watched a Kodachrome clear sunset over the hills and munched on tasty BanhMi takeout while enjoying local wine amid deep Covid conversations. While human contact is good, friends are the best.
Napa Pied-à-terre
We stayed down the hill at a Best Western. Checking in was kind of weird, we had to fill out a form claiming that we were there for essential purposes only. The parking lot of the hotel was full - of essentially essential pickups and other large trucks, apparently contractors, landscapers, construction, and other workers. We felt like charlatans. Stopped at the gas station to get some water and discovered that here in California, you are not allowed to go into the stop-n-shop; you have to order from a side window. “I’d like a water please.” “What kind"?” “I don’t know, I can’t see the cooler.”