Sunday morning we slept in and on the way out we swung by a local favorite spot of ours, Cafe Trieste to grab lattes and egg sandwiches for the road. I was in the driver's seat and am not a good driver-eater so I am just as surprised as the next person that I did not have bacon grease and bits of egg all over me :) And out of Oakland we go! An hour and a half into it, we knew we wanted to swing by Santa Rosa, CA to see if we couldn't grab Josh a taste of Pliny the Younger from the Russian River Brewery. It only gets brewed once a year and they can only do a small batch. Last year it sold out in one day, this year they made some precautions to help that. You can only order a 10 oz glass, you can't buy it in a growler to take home, etc. As we drive down the street we go "There it is! ....and there is the ridiculous line everyone is waiting in to even get a chance to get in... :( " So we get back on the highway feeling a little bummed. We were definitely going to try again on our way back home on Tuesday... but if they sold out in one day last year, what are the odds they will still have some on Tuesday? To cheer Josh up I told him to google brewing companies and see what pops up on the map that sounds interesting and not far off our drive up north. We settled on waiting to get up to Fortuna, CA (200 more miles north) and popping in at Eel River Brewing Co. So glad we did!! I am a total fan and this is coming from someone who really doesn't give a crap about beer. They won an award in SF in 2010 for their Acai Berry Wheat - really good, I had a small 10 oz. and I also tested their Amber and fell in love so we got a growler of that to take as a gift to our hosts (Yes I was hoping they'd share!). Josh had to try their double IPA and as I already was skeptic since I do know I do not like hoppy beers, have never had an IPA that tasted anything near drinkable... why would a double IPA be any better? Wouldn't I dislike it twice as much? Shockingly, I really liked it. Very fun and also a weird experience for me as I had no idea I liked beer so much until Eel River! (Which I also learned, the actual river, does have fresh water eels - eeeee! yuck).
Backing up, back on the road from our Santa Rosa failed beer stop about 127 miles more of my driving, I saw a road sign for the drive through tree! I remember seeing the 1950's postcards of the drive through redwood tree and dreaming of being able to see it. I also remember reading at some point that you could no longer drive through it and maybe that it had even died/fell down. All these vague facts, but I do remember being a bit sad I'd never have the chance to drive through the tree. Little did I know there are more than the one famous tree that was in the postcard and more importantly it was going to be on our way!! I can't explain how childlike and excited I was. Josh said he could care less (also probably because he grew up around redwoods, I'm sure it's a lot less exciting) but he laughed at how enthusiastic I got and was more than happy to detour off the highway.
After the tree and some photos of us goofing off in a hollowed base of an old redwood, we hopped back on the highway 101 another 80 miles until Eel River beer time. Then it was just another hour and a half to Orick, population 650 - woo hoo, party! Well we did actually, but just in the confines of our hosts living room :) There really isn't anywhere else. Another fun surprise... Josh had told me nothing of the couple we were visiting other than they were in their 50's, had known him for about 12 years from being regulars at his bar and they had kids about his age. Left out the part about them being Dead Heads. It was certainly not a big deal to me, just a funny little surprise we were staying with total hippies who used to follow the Greatful Dead and sell tie dyes out of their van, lol. SUPER sweet and awesome couple, we had a blast hanging out in the evenings with them. She cooked us ribs for dinner that night too! Yay for home cooked food!
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