For the past 4 years we’ve celebrated 4th of July in the alley and on the rooftop of our apartment in Seattle, with friends and family. Our apartment was on Lake Union, with the most epic view of the fireworks at Gas Works park. 2014 is the first year we weren’t there to celebrate with them, and as with every new beginning and place, come new traditions and friends to celebrate with.
My dear friend Annie, husband and little Louella live in Northern California on the coast in Humbolt County. There they run a goat dairy and have an adorable farm house and garden. For this year’s 4th, we decided to get out of the city and drove North to spend the weekend with Annie and their tribe of goats. A weekend full of goats, gardening, bike rides, knit talk and baby hangouts, what more could one ask for?
We had planned to leave at 5am, but lets be real, who with a child ever leaves when planned?! So we finally made it out of town by 9am. 🙂 After a couple stops along the way, we made it to their place and celebrated what remained of the holiday with tasty goat meat burgers (amazing if you haven’t tried them), homemade hummus, a tasty kale salad fresh from Annie’s garden and beers. Coltrane and Louella had their own celebration of sorts, ransacking every pile of dirt they could, climbing in and out of the wheelbarrow and soaking up the afternoon’s coastal sunshine. We quickly deemed the plump duo the “chubby cheek gang”. Later in the evening we drove to where we had scouted a camping spot. This was an impromptu camping trip and with such, let’s just say it was an experience. Between the late night fireworks, campfire safety watch with a cruising toddler and interesting neighbors, David and I promised each other that the next camping trip would be off the beaten path and far better planned.
Saturday we spent the morning at the Arcata farmer’s market. Completely charming and full of tasty gluten-free, healthy and even raw food vendors. I love the small town farmer’s markets far more then one’s in the city. They’re always so full of life with local makers and growers. The rest of the afternoon we sat in Annie’s garden and talked knitting, wool dreams, aspirations and motherhood. David spent most of the day battling an epic backcountry bike ride through old logging and undiscovered trails. Annie took us on a tour of the goat farm, introducing us to all the hoofed residents, including MANY pregnant mama goats. We ended the day with another bbq, including more goat (steaks this time) and roasted veggies. An all around perfect day.
Before we left to head back to the city, we met up with Annie and Lou for breakfast at the Beachcomber Cafe, an incredible and tasty little place in Trinidad. The morning was spent watching Trane and Lou play and planning our next get together. We said our goodbyes and then stopped by the Trinidad Head Lighthouse for some amazing views and a couple final weekend memories before heading home.
We’re heading back up to visit over Labor Day and we have some pretty exciting things planned that I’ll make sure and share later on.
