Liam finds an ocean treasure.

Rick and Michelle heading to the mysterious sea cave.

Tanner and Carrie enjoy a relaxing moment in the sea cave before it is completely filled again with water.

Olivia and Gage finding critters that are usually hidden under the waves!

Hana and Hendrix at the end of Secret Beach

Crab Capture


Colorful starfish. (I know it is now considered politically correct to call them "sea stars", which is precisely why I refuse to do it.)

Rick on a REALLY BIG piece of driftwood. Possibly an old redwood root.

Meet Tony and his dog, Sadie. Tony was working on this raft for quite a while, planning to take it out on the ocean, with a tent on it, for an extended cruise. He took it for a test float on the river and someone called the police, who made him take it home and told him not to try it on the ocean, or he would be arrested. Sad to say, he abandoned his (sea) worthy quest.

This is a pretty remarkable feat of nautical engineering, as you can see. Note the water skis.

We heard a talk in a branch we visited that made us look at each other and say, "We relate!" Here's the story:

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the devil decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." This gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough." And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.

"Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?

Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock."

We have felt so many times on this mission that we are pushing against a rock that won't budge. Some days we would come home and say to each other that all we did was push the rock. But we are accustomed to it, now, and are not letting discouragement discourage us any more! Besides, we have many good days, too!

We took a little overnight trip to the Eureka, CA area and visited the redwoods again. As we walked through the forest Rick kept saying, "That's a pretty big tree... That's a pretty big tree... That's a pretty big tree."


Paul Bunyan toppled this with one swing of his axe.

Rick says, "That's one big root wad!"

We had been driving through the redwoods for some time when as saw a sign announcing "Big Tree"! We laughed, then parked and walked to it. It's over 300 feet tall, 20 feet in diameter, and 68 feet in circumference. Rick said about this one, "That's a VERY big tree."

We thought this one was just about as big - but with so many giant redwoods everywhere, it's hard to tell!

We drove to the historic town of Ferndale, CA. Ferndale was established in the 1850's on a flat spot between the mountains and the ocean. It is a dairy farming area and very small, but beautiful and homey. Kind of Mayberry-esque. Many downtown businesses and homes have maintained their wonderful Victorian architecture. Here is the Victorian Inn, an old hotel where we ate dinner.

It's for sale!

This is an old church that some one has made into a residence.

We thought this was the prettiest house in Ferndale.

We took a short hike near Brookings today. The forest floor was carpeted with these green plants. The trail led us to several places that overlooked the ocean. We found this natural bridge. The trail went along steep cliffs that plunged into the ocean. A person could easily trip and fall if they were not careful. The area is called Thunder Rocks.

There are many rivers here in "Wild River" country. The Winchuck River is our favorite one! A few members live up this river and we have taught a family that lives in a cabin on the Winchuck. We are always amazed at the color of the river.

Paul Bunyan, "Babe" and wee little Rick with Eugene!

Not sure what happened- looks like Popeye ran aground here in Trinidad, CA.

Our computer died and we had to take it to Arcata, CA for repair. On our way home we stopped in Trinidad, CA to eat. We saw this lighthouse and decided to take a picture. After posing for pictures we read the information attached to the door and found out this was a replica of the real lighthouse. A mere fraction of the real one.

We paid $9 for this crab at the port, took it home, cut my finger extracting the meat. Got about 4 ounces of meat. Most of you are trying to calculate the price per pound; that would be about $36 per pound!

Our crab did not go easy. He fought a good fight.

To the untrained eye this looks like your every day crab, but it is actually a rare white crab. So rare that it was featured in the local newspaper, given the name "Casper". And to the best of our knowledge still sits at the bottom of the crab tank at the port. I would hate to think that "Casper" was reduced to a crab cake!

These are boats in the port at Brookings. Some boats and the harbor itself were damaged by the tsunami caused by the Japanese earthquake.

This nice woman walks these dogs around town every day. She often gets stopped while people take a picture. I tell you, people in this area are INSANE about their dogs! Everyone has dogs. There are even dog bakeries.
The newspaper here runs front page stories about dogs. Recently a woman's dog was taken from outside Fred Meyer while she was inside shopping. It was front page news. Then when her dog was found it was front page news. Then, when dog and owner were finally reunited, the front page article was carried over to page three, with an 8 x 10 PORTRAIT of the two!
Another example - people who are arrested for animal abuse will find their names in a front page article. There was a huge front page and page 2 article just last week about a man who owned too many dogs and cats and had neglected them, while on PAGE THREE was a story of a young man who had just murdered HIS MOTHER!
Then, just today this front page story: Lost hunting dog finds a friend.
Rick says this place is going to the dogs.

Whoa! This is a very dangerous place! Straight down to certain death! We crawled out on this little precipice to watch whales spouting off.

This is Arch Rock, one of Eugene's favorite spots. Then again, it might not be. Well, maybe he is on the fence about it.

This is near a place called Secret Beach. (shhhhh)

This amazing place is called Natural Bridge. It's not far from here.

Anytime there is a nice sunset, people flock to the beach to take pictures.

Here is a good representative shot of the Brookings shoreline. Isn't it beeeeeeautiful?

We had a baptism!
Bill was baptized January 2, 2011. Here he is with his "beloved Jeanne", his fiance, who introduced him to the church. They plan to be married April 30.
We are so happy for them, and for Bill to have found the gospel.