feathers, chocolate, redwoods and beer :)

I spent the morning of good old Valentines day walking to the Puerto Rican bakery down the street and then up to a park on the other end of the street. I sat for a bit, looking over the city that laid out ahead and the bay not too far off, all still in a bit of a haze, but cool and breezy just the way it should be. After a croissant, coffee and a walk around the Mission hood, we took off to find the Golden Gate bridge. We found Golden Gate Park, and let me just warn anyone interested, you won't find Golden Gate Bridge in Golden Gate Park but if you follow it though it'll dump you off right at the ocean and the view will blow you away.. hah ha get it..cause its reeeaally windy.. nevermind. By the time we found the beach the sun was setting so we quick drove in the general direction of the bridge and caught a glimpse of the sun fading behind the horizon. Our plans for the evening were stacked with a six o'clock pillow fight, 7 o'clock beer and chocolate tasting, and Starwars showing at 10. Unfortunately by the time we made it to the bridge it was just about six, leaving negative time to get to the pillow fight. San Francisco has an annual Valentine's Day hundreds of people pillow fight in a downtown plaza complete with a count down and lasting until people just give up. Thankfully the good people of SF found it within themselves to continue beating each other long after I would have anticipated. As it turns out this is not the only day where this activity is celebrated, there is actually a national Pillow Fight day which probably looks much the same. Just about the time we drove past the plaza and I was settling for Caleb beating me with my own pillow instead, we found it! Feathers and lights, a crowd surfing teddy bear and a medic. Caleb let me jump out of the car and I made a friend in a n-95 respirator mask who was waiting still 30 minutes later for his friend to make it out of the core of fighters still sending exploding pillow feathers in the air and raging on each other. We had a date on Haight (;)) at Noc Noc for beer and chocolate. Noc Noc is actually a sweet little speakeasy vibe, inconspicuously situated and themed in a dark cartoon network Flintstones colorfest. And the chocolate was awesome. It was out last night there and although it was rushed and we were late for pretty much everything, and Caleb was too tired to even go see Starwars, it was one of my favorite Valentines days ever. I found the best ones are spent with friends in fact. The next day we woke and had some pastries before heading on the road, checked out the Golden Gate Park again, this time we could take our time. We saw bison, big ole adorable bison and the Golden Gate bridge in the light. We took our time, going up the beautiful 101 up to the Redwoods and stopping off at Lagunitas Brewery and North Coast Brewery to enjoy true nw hops and fresh air. Wilco Tango Foxtrot from Lagunitas was my favorite for sure. We were still a bit away from the actual Redwood forest and we were super tired so onto the side of the road and into our sleeping bags was how we spent that night. We did try to find hotels, but it just wasn't worth the 60$ for what my car is perfectly good at, keeping us dry and relatively warm. The sleep was good, warm and very convenient the next morning for getting back on the road. Jumping on the road again, putting a hat on my greasy hair we tromped on through the best forest I've ever been through. Sounds like a silly thing to say but it's awe inspiring, with trees reaching heights of 300+ feet, diameters at breast height (dbh for forestry people) of 40+ feet and enough rings in the middle to tell a tale of hundreds of years of history. It was like hiking and driving through a fairy tale. The northwest has an overcast, misty, rainforest feel and the smell of fresh moss and peat, natural light and spectacular showing of nature at her best, it's better then any spa you could pay for, at least I'm willing to bet. Driving up the Oregon coast, to the right, cascades, mountains, mossy trees and to your left..dunes, coast line, caves and crashing waves. Beautiful scenery even in overcast. Coos Bay, OR was next on our boomerang around the NW points of interest.