My sister is a graduate student!
Since she’d been living in Walla Walla, and since she just had knee surgery, her loving family drove up to help her move from Washington to Northern California.
We stopped in Winemucca on the way up. This little guy was waiting outside our door in the morning, asking for attention and eating our Doritos.
Nene’s Walla Walla house.
Nene’s Walla Walla room.
One of the things that surprised me on this trip is the number of people who, in 2010, still use wood to heat their homes, don’t have air conditioning, and don’t seem to mind.
This uninhibited cat helped us pack Nene’s car for a while.
The wall next to the fridge.
The twin Toyota fleet. Nene’s Corolla and my parents’ Camry.
When she wasn’t on crutches Nene rolled around in an automatic scooter that Steven acquired somehow. She has a little scooter course around his house and yard, complete with ramps lined with painter’s tape as visual guides.
Walla Walla has good food. I don’t care what they say. I got all my favorites—a gardenburger and chocolate shake from Ice-Burg, a hogi from the DX, and pumpkin pancakes and hashbrowns from Clarette’s.
Leaving Walla Walla.
This is my spot for the trip that took us from 8 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. (we stopped in Portland on the way).
To get to Portland we went through the Columbia River Gorge. We then headed south through Oregon on the 5. We caught the Redwood Highway in Grants Pass. The last 100 miles in California was a curvy mountain road. I’m just glad I got to fly home and only do that road once.
Mckinleyville, CA, where our hotel was. The big town in the area is Eureka, and school is in Arcata.
Humboldt State University. To say that housing is difficult is a bit of an understatement. The rumor is that some students had to camp at the beginning of last year because they couldn’t find housing. Rooms would be rented in the time it took to drive to see them. Craigslist ads would get 45 email replies in a few hours. Humboldt, to me, was also a bit of culture shock. There’s the tree hugging, sure, but there’s also the marijuana. The word “chill” came up a lot in the Craigslist ads. “Rooms available…super kool landlord…super casual and chill house…roomy and mellow…” And some ads specified “no growing,” while others said they were “friendly” to smoking.
The war room, my parents’ hotel room. We’d watch Craigslist for new ads to pop up and then attack the good ones, sending Nene and Steven out to look at places while we either did research online, took to the streets looking for “for rent” signs, or went to property management offices for available listings.
The war room generals, calling down to the returned scouting party.
The Arcata Co-op. All the stereotypes are true.
At the end of day 2, Nene found a place to live. It’s above the fog line, doesn’t have any peeling paint, and had a room available. YAY!
The neighbor dog, Star.
Nene’s temporary room. Her actual room is getting paint and carpet.
Steven measures the actual room to see if the clothes will fit.
The scene out of Nene’s window.