Arcata is funny in the sense that it is filled to the brim with people whom you’d least expect to celebrate a holiday like the 4th of July. But they do, and they do it well. Despite the fog that rolled in around 6:00 PM, I had a great day just relaxing with friends and thinking about every time South Park has ever made fun of a patriotic redneck.

I kicked things off with a morning of leisure before getting a surprise call from Allyson, whom I adore. We went to Big Blue Cafe and managed to get the outside table, so we could watch people in the Plaza be drunk and crazy while we ate our scrumptious sandos. The weather started off beautifully, but slowly turned cold and windy (as documented above by the flippy-ness of my hair).

Afterwards we walked to Willow & Rags, which I’ve been to way too many times in the last two weeks. I did, however, find a precious lavender turtleneck for $7. If there’s one thing I l-o-v-e, it’s turtlenecks. Oddly enough, I’m not usually one for purple, but I’ve been eating it up this summer.

Of course, it wouldn’t be 4th of July without baseball! The Humboldt Crabs had games all weekend, and they were packed full of people decked out in red/blue attire. It was hard to tell who was being patriotic, and who just really liked the Humboldt Crabs. Or both.

After we stamped out the competition, everyone darted out of the bleachers and into the ballpark, where the stadium lights were turned off for the fireworks show. Unfortunately, thanks to said fog, it was pretty hard to see much of anything except an eerie colored-sky and some sparks here or there. They also took down the flag halfway through the show, which I cursed them for.

All in all, a wonderful day. I hope everyone else in the States had a great Fourth, as well!

The mountain range, that is. Granted, this is a photo of the East, when we belong to the West, but it still gets me excited about going home.

Today is finally the day where we attempt to make that treacherous drive through the mountain passes so we can relax for at least a couple of weeks before classes start again.

This is my last winter break and, although I’ll miss breaking from school and zipping over here for holiday frenzy, I can’t wait to get back to Arcata. There’s so much I want to do before the 22nd! Paint, record music, read books… Get a library card! Process photos on my own computer.

We’ve already stayed much longer than we had planned due to some nasty storms that were undoubtedly much nastier up in the mountains. The thought of driving through blizzards and black ice didn’t sound very nurturing to me… Especially on a car ride that is already quite dangerous even in the best of weather.

At the moment, the tinkling of wind chimes tells me it’s at least a bit windy outside. The pecking at the windows tells me it’s back to raining yet again. And the CalTrans traffic cam tells me that Trinity County is absolutely covered in snow! I won’t lie– I’m a bit excited. Living in California, it’s not too often I get to experience snow. However, if you don’t hear back from me in a timely manner, I’m probably crawling up the side of the Alps!

One of my favorite things about going home is the amount of downtime I have to relax and do all the things I never normally allot any time for doing. Sadly, going for strolls on sunny days is one of those things.

The day after Thanksgiving I corrected this error and walked around the preservation with Chris and Lindy. It was a combination of warm and windy, which made for some great photos! On our way back I actually started to miss Redding a bit and its mountainous horizon. Thankfully all I ever need is five minutes in the sun and I’m reminded why I moved away in the first place.

More photos of the trip at Flickr, of course!

Today was my favorite kind of day: cold enough for a scarf, but warm enough for a fancy mesh top. Gotta love schizophrenic coastal weather!

The weather has been strange lately and, for whatever reason I haven’t been forced to carry my umbrella everywhere I go just yet. It was unseasonably warm a couple weeks ago, and now it’s back to being cold again. I’m not complaining, though! The less rain I soak up, the more fall photos I get to take.