I went into the office to sign in. I was weary if that is any excuse and didn't do my regular routine of asking to see the place first. I paid the cash , got the key and we drove the short way to the cabin. Were we surprised to see it!

The cabin was the smallest thing we had ever seen. As you walk in you are in the kitchen. on the left is a sink, stove and under-the-counter fridge(if there were a counter)on the right is a built in table with 2 plastic chairs. If you move the chairs one can get to the door. We all shifted so we could get to the door. Gary opened it and groaned. The first thing I noticed was the smell, the first thing he noticed was the size. It was 2 feet bigger than the queen size bed. One had to climb ove rthe bed to get to the bathroom (which tho it had no counter to put a makeup case on, was ok in size).Opps wait, I take that back. I forgot one had to sit sideways on the john to do businesses. The smell was knocking me out and I was going for my inhaler. It had been record high temps and the managment had forgetton to open the cabin up. It took hammering on the windows to get them open. We lit the candle hoping that would help(and it did a tiny bit). We were so tired we didn't know what to do. We were both a bit intimidated by the owner in the office. He had his leathers on (it was still 90 degrees)and the chains dangling off the belt with the leather knife holder obvious to anyone.

We were so tired and now hungry. We didn't want to cook in the little cabin(too hot) so we asked the scarey man what resturants were in town. He said just one was(turned out to be untrue) and gave us a menu. the prices were high but we were hungry and hadn't seen anything else and it was getting close to 8 now so we headed the 3 miles north to a nice looking big resturante right across from the The Trees of Mystery and a huge Paul Bunyon and his faithful looking pet bull. I'll tell you more about them. They turned out to be a real hit with me and I have pictures to prove.

The restaurant was empty and the service was good. The food was lousy horrible expencive food and we were too tired and a bit stressed to chat up the 2 waitresses we had. Normally I would have started asking about the town and the history. I ate not even 1/2 of my meal and Gary finished his and we went back to the motel.

While we were putting the food away, I had to clean the tiny fridge. When gary went to turn on the color TV it didn't turn on. Soon he discovered the cord had to be plugged in. So the hunt was on for the electic outlet. We found it on the other side of the bed. That left us wondering if we should drape the electric extension cord over the bed or try to crawl around on the dirty smelly carpet to string it under the bed. We desided the latter was the safer. When they say cable TV, they mean it. it was ONLY cable channels, no network ones.

I felt so bad that I hadn't ask more questions, asked to look before we took it/paid for it. Gary was bummed out like crazy(worse than me) but laid no blamne on me(phew). We decided that we couldn't make a decision that night, and the sheets were clean, no sign of bugs so we would deal with everything in the morning.

Surprisingly we both slept well and the sun was shining and so we were in much better shape to make decisions.

We decided that it all could be worked out and we were too weenie to ask for a partial refund and go elsewhere. We decided that if we were camping, it might be cleaner(haaha)but it would be smaller and no eletricity. So we would stick it out. We packed a lunch and off we went to explore. We had a wonderful day in the Redwood National forrest. We saw spectacular views of the ocean and the most remarkable trees we have ever seen. We saw herds of elk, lots of auspray (SP?) we learned alot about the trees and their inhabitance.We took several short walks into the woods. It was so incredible, at times the beauty brought tears to my eyes.(course some of that we are learning is the menopause). We went thru a somewhat bigger town of Orick Ca, Population 350. We bought postcards and a tacky redwood shot glass for the collection. We saw a Redwood turtle but I'm afraid the cost was too high, they are very proud of their wooden turtles.

We took plenty of pictures, many with us in them. We had a blast. We came back to the cabin(we called it our electic tent from then on)to regroup a bit, chatwith the friendly next door neighbor(who lived full time in a cabin THAT small!!!) and then headed north to The Trees of Mystery.

In the huge parking lot stands the tall Paul Bunyon and his pet bull statues. As we walked by then to the entrance I heard what sounded like a recording saying something about "Your pooch is welcome". Z had her jacket on so I knew she was welcome and it sounded like a recording, so I ignored the voice and kept walking.Then I heard it say "THat is a pooch isn't it" OK I was alittle freaked out. I whirled around and to see where this recorded sounding voice was coming from and it spoke to us again. I don't remember what it said(remember, I was freaking, a fun freaking but none the less...)It happened, I spoke to a really tall statue.(Is this the end as we know it?)He said that all dogs are welcome and what was my dogs name. I said macKenzie and he said "HI Mackenzie". She was not freaked out, she ignored it.The voice in the tall Bunyon told us to enter and enjoy. I was giggling now.

It maybe a bit touristy and maybe even a little bit over priced but we would have had to walk many many miles into the forrest to see the very strange and kewl shaped trees we saw. The hidden speakers told of the history of these trees and told of many of the legions of Paul Bunyon.We got to the top of our walk in The Trees of Mystery and a round friendly man (Danny)told us he had to stop us due to construction ahead. We were frankly relieved. We had walked all over all day and this tourist trap was really larger than we had thot. he gave us a great speil. He was charming and funny and loved his trees. they are building a tram that will go up 800 feet by next year. He told us about the 3 different kinds of Redwood trees left in the world(2 of which are only in northern ca) We learned Redwoods protect themselves from forrest fires by releasing the water they store inside when heated up!He was great to ask questions of, but I forgot to ask about the talking statue in the parking lot. We had climbed up 105 feet above the parking lot and the hike down was steep but fun.

We went thru the hokey souvenier shop. We both saw a cribbage board/box that caught our eye but we passed it up even tho we had wanted a ice one for traveling, so we didn't have to take our good one on the road.There was also a 5 room museuam about the Indians that lived there and some neet looking pottery and woven baskets.When we left I found myself chatting with the statue. I asked him how tall he is (49 feet) and his horned calf friend is 29 feet tall. He said I was welcome to sit on his foot to rest or take pictures.(hey isn't this a family business??!)Gary took some pictures. I can't wait to see them. I was giggling like crazy. We headed north 30 miles to have dinner in a larger coastal town. (Of course only after I said a proper goodbye to a 50 foot lumberjack statue.)

The place we heard was good was closed but we found another place down at the docks that was funky looking but the fish, the whole meal was wonderful and alot less than we paid the night before. Afterward we walked the jetty (past the sign that said "danger do not enter", past the 20 or so people who were also walking past the sign)and went up to the lighthouse. We chatted with some locals and then just sat and watched the sun go down over the ocean as the sea lions barked and played on the shoreline.

From almost the minute we drove into the area that first day of vacation we noticed that this was a depressed area. The town of Klamath where our funky cabin was had once been a thriving town of thousands of employed people. Before the Alaskan earthquake of 1964 it was an active port. Where the mouth of the Klamath River meets the mighty Pacific Ocean was a safe naturally formed harbor. The large ocean faring ships could come into the town and pick up large amounts of logs and take them by sea to their destinations. Then in one giant act of Mother Nature, the tsonmie(sp?big wave)that resulted from the earthquake many hundreds of miles to the north not only flooded the city of Klamath but as the waters receeded it could be seen that so much debree was left that the harbor was gone and 2 large sandbars full of logs and rocks formed to permanantly block safe entrance of a ship. The town literaly died.

I have been to ghost towns, where the people left after the gold was mined but the buildings are over a hundred years old and with out major overhaul, "new bones" even they could not be used.But this was so different. 1964 was not THAT long ago(ok our young lurkers, I hope you are smiling, cuz it WASN'T that long ago! GOT IT? Good.:o))

We saw modern buildings empty and rotting. Many even still have glass windows. Most haven't even been boarded up, some have been tho.On only a few bother with having a for sale sign.

Each time we went into a grocery store we saw the majority of people paying with food stamps. The cars looked old and run down. Here we were in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and we were seeing such poverty and sadness. I thought people's faces looked worn and tired. The store clerks were friendly, but seemed hardened in a way. (OK, that big Paul B was almost overly friendly but what do you expect of a 49 foot logger with his own bull?)

There were signs all up and down that stretch of highway saying don't drink and do drugs it will ruin your life and your family, presearve your ancestry and they had totem poles on them. I guessed who they were directed to but it seemed more insulting that a positive aformation for the world to read. The third day of our adventure in the woods started with a big breakfast I cooked in the tiny cabin. We washed every plate and utencil, pot and lid before we used it and it was a great meal. Before it got hot we headed south again, this time to the coastal town of Eureka in the infamous Humbolt County, stopping briefly to see herds of elk grazing in the meadows.

30 miles north of Eurika is a town named Trinidad. It is an artist colony with a population of only 423 people twice the size of Klamath and ten times the afluence and charactor. It had signs saying welcome and banners telling of song festivals, it had flags flying of rainbow colors. Very different from the dull brown signs warning of drug abuse.

We went to the public beach and watched the surfers in their wet suits, he dogs running on the beach, kids making sand castles. It was fun. But at some point as we headed into Trinidad I was getting a wierd feeling. Thats as innocent as it started. Then I felt it grow from a feeling to a more physical problem. I was talking to myself this whole time, hoping it would go away before I needed to say anything to Gary.My heart started to pound, then my breathing got shallow. I finally recognized what was happening.I was having a panic attack!

I have only had them during the 5 months of chemo I had last year and none since. I knew what it was and that I was OK, but they are horrible things. At this point I knew I had to say something. Poor Gary, he felt so helpless and on top of all his suggestions and questions. "What do you need? what will help? what can I do?"he was a bit annoying. the love-too-much syndrome. I of course had no Xanax which worked like a charm the year before. I had no idea I would get a panic attack on a beautiful day on vacation!

Even tho my panic attacks feel nothing like asthma attacks i have found that using my inhaler helps so I did that. I asked Gary to continue to drive south to Eureka, I just knew i could talk myself out of this and slow my heart back down. Whatta drag!

I was feeling a bit better by the time we pulled into Eureka. Gary asked me if i wanted to call my sister to make sure my Dad was OK. I figured that wouldn't hurt, so I did but no answer. I left a message just saying I had a wierd feeling and wanted to make sure daddy was OK. I am sure she thot I was whacked but so what. Gary was right, that did seem to help a little.

We stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and found out we were too late for the feery boat cruise(Gary was relieved due to his fear of sea sickness)and got a map of the driving tour of Victorian homes. As we drove up and down and then walked up and down street after street of fantastic majectic goddy Victorians in size from small to huge! It was believed in the late 1800's and early 1900's that the more decorations on a house the mosre beautiful it is. If that is the case these builders were aiming high!Even the run down ones were beautiful!

We were walking along a particularly Victorian-packed street and we hear a voice saying comically "These are beautiful aren't they? Watch out tho, first you admire them and then you have to buy one, then before you know it you don't have any closet space at all!" I looked over a healthy happy looking woman who was walking down the street just beaming at us. We started talking and ended up being invited INTO her Victorian she and her husband were restoring! They had painted it blue,white, fushia and purple! It had tons of stained glass windows that jetted out like triangles, hunky wood moldings, wood carved fireplace hearth with marble front. We finally left it was late and time to feed the dog. We had had a strange friendly conversation with a postal worker and now this friendly lady and the crazy lady at the Chamber of Commerce and all of them talked oopenly about the drug money that keeps the town thriving even tho logging is almost non exsistant and fishing is poor now, but pot is thee crop! 30 to 40 years ago, heads were turned and people were paid and now it is just a way of life. About October the money REALLY flows.(when I told the postal worker I was lost he threw his head back and laughed awhile before saying "Me too! about ten years now!!" )

We drove to the marina(a good place to find clean rest rooms I have found)and fed and watered the dog and talked about what to do. All over the Old Town business district were really psychodelic murals on the walls, almost 3-D. beautiful and "trippy" as the 70 year old lady at the Chamber of commerse said! I told gary I'm having a flash back! But at least the panic attack was over!

I was feeling all better. Seeing the houses took my mind off how I was feeling. I was hoping it would. But Gary was all nervous now. He is so sweetly sensitive to my moods and so concerned for me, along with his utmost devotion...Now he needed some nurturing. He said he wanted to go back to the cabin and relax. I told him I could put togther a desent dinner with what we had so he said why not just go back and play it by ear. As we approached Klamath we both said that we should rethink the cribbage board we saw at the Trees of Mystery. That was so funny! If we BOTH still wanted it a whole day later we best go get it!

It was 80 or so miles from Eureka to Klamath, but we had a pleasent ride back. We talked about what all was left to do and how much time we had to do it in and realized that we wanted to get out of that smelly dirty cabin. So we went to Trees of Mystery and got our redwood cribbage board, saw our new friend Danny(the guy at the top that gave us an impromptu inservice on Redwood trees of the world) and of course had another chat with Big Paul B and his pet bull! Still freaks me out(but am sure that's not what set off the panic attack!:o))

Then we went back to the cabin, had a nice pieced together dinner, played cribbage and had a lovely evening.

The next morning poor Gary broke the toilet seat, so we were out of there for SURE!We woke up EARLY, had coffee, packed up, left a note confessing to the seat breakage for the scarey man and a note to the sweet disabled man in the teeny tiny cabin next door telling him how much I enjoyed chatting with him and petting his gorgoues dog(part white lab/part wolf)Darling sweet dog! Then we headed first to Klamath overlook to watch the graywhales playing really near the shore. We could just barely make them out as they would jump above the water and squirt water thru there... whatever, it isn't a nose, blow hole! thats it!

We got on 101 and headed to Cresent City to get gas and then we were going to cut across and head up the interstate huighway, but it was CLOSED! Land slide!

So we had to drive back up the oregon coastline. that meant alot more driving and time but it was alot more beautiful and we were in no hurry! We listened to a book on tape, had another picnic, went on roads we had never been on and had a lovely ride home.

We got home later last night, the cat was fine, the plants did great in the surprise heatwave we missed.(due to a neighbor's vigilance!)and all was well!