Yippee....we're home!

We are back in the "Blue Lake" and happy to be here...other than that earthquake that just happened a couple of minutes ago. I am pretty used to them by now; I always think someone is driving their truck into our house when they happen because our house makes such loud noises. But this last scared me enough to move from the back of my house closer to the front door in case I needed to get outside quickly. But, luckily I survived and we are now enjoying our house that is still standing.
Our trip down south was very exhausting for me...physically because we drove over 1300 miles in a couple of days, mentally because I had to confront a lot of beliefs that I have about SoCal, and emotionally because of the reunion of dad with the family. First, we drove down to Cortney and Dust's house in Oakland to see them before they go back to Vermont for the summer...which makes us very sad. We did get to rock out on the "Rock Band" and eat really good food with our friends and that makes us happy, but we will miss having our friends so close for the summer. Next we picked up Mom and headed down to the desert on a mission for dad. What a long friggin' drive down I-5! The entire right hand lane was filled with trucks and the entire desert was filled with food...more food than I could have ever imagined. The central valley provides one half of the nations fruits and vegetables in the summer and around 70% of the nations food in the winter. I mean can you even imagine that much food...all grown in one area that makes up approximately 10% of the state that is a desert? Well, it was an eye-opening experience for me because I have some serious issues with the transportaion of all that water to a desert in the first place, but after I saw the food production I had to rethink my beliefs about our whole food system here in the US. It was really hard seeing all the oil wells just sucking the earth dry, but I do drive and car and use electricity so I can't really complain much about that stuff...it was just really hard to see it all in person. It was a constant battle in my head between seeing our precious resources being used up so effortlessly and being aware of my own consumption in this world.
Enough about my environmental beliefs and onto the happy stuff...we picked up dad early Friday morning as the sun rose over the oils wells Taft, CA. What a reunion! He hadn't shaved or cut his hair the whole time he was in...he called it a "grizzly adams" beard, but Andy and I think he looked more like Andrew Weil. We quickly exited the facility and went on a hunt for breakfast. The drive back was nice and we had a great couple of days back at their home in Santa Rosa...sushi, beer, and ice cream! Yummy!! We drove back after the weekend and are glad to be home in Humboldt...even if it is a little cold. We are now preparing for our bacon party/holiday on Saturday. I will be making a savory bacon cake with cornbread, cheesy "icing" and of course bacon. I will post some pictures soon.