Final part of the West Coast trip

After Sebastopol, we stopped over at Emerald Earth for the night and had some good conversations and even better dinner. It was our first night sleeping in a natural home. How amazing it was, not a single foul chemical to be perceived. When we got there it felt like we were in the middle of an Ice Age. I quickly lit the wood burning stove pictured above. The fire started to make us more comfortable and I filled the stove once more after the first fire started to die down.

Now for the interesting part. This bit of wood was enough to warm up the cob wall next to the stove. It continued to maintain the whole place warm until late the next morning. I can only imagine how cozy a rocket mass heater must make a place.

After leaving Emerald Earth we headed over to Eureka to stay with some friends and went Chanterelle hunting. It was one delicious pizza and a great place to visit. Then on to Oregon where we got rained on most of the time and saw lots of inspiring places. Eugene and Portland to name a few. Very original and locally minded places with a thriving art scene. If you ever make it to Portland I would recommend looking into visiting one of the McMenamin’s locations. They are two brothers that started the first post prohibition brewery in Portland during the seventies. Great atmosphere and good brews.

From Portland we headed back home making a couple more stops along the way.

Scored some free tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in Oakland, don’t ask. Even though I was not very familiar with him, he was quite the showman.

Here is more of the trip in pictures…