In 2020 I took one trip without Benji. Amidst the pandemic, it wasn’t safe to travel outside of Oregon. Four months prior I had taken a trip to the Alvord Desert in Eastern Oregon with a girlfriend. Typically I would plan a girls or solo trip at least 1x a month. In all the years Benji and I have been together we have seen the important of taking physical space away from one another. Not only is it a reset for me, but for him as well. I like to do a little solo travel and meeting a friend somewhere along the way. Instagram has been great for that because I am able to connect with like-minded people from all over the US.
In January I got my vaccine, which was a big sigh of relief. First thing I did was book a trip at a treehouse I had been wanting to visit with my friend Melissa (you can find her blog here).
On this trip I planned on going without the dogs and visiting the Redwoods of California. Every other time I had visited I had been with the dogs, and they aren’t allowed on most trails. As road trips do, I had a lot of time to reflect on things. Hours of driving in the car with the music blasting, and nobody else’ agenda to go off of but my own.
On this post I will cover what I did on the trip and the reflections along the way.
Solo Travel Saftey
When I am setting to leave town, I always pack enough food for lunch so I don’t have to go out to eat-even more so in a pandemic. It cuts down time, saves money, and limits the stress of wanting to look for a place to eat in unfamiliar territory. Turkey sandwiches with homemade sourdough it is!
A common question folks might ask when I travel alone surrounds safety. I travel with a knife, bear mace, and share my location with Benji prior to leaving. As a content creator I never share my location in real time on my stories. This goes for everybody, not just influencers-sharing is more fun when your home anyway, in my opinion. I also don’t expose where and when I am traveling away from home. I also carry a Garmin InReach device so I can update Benji with my location along the way shall I be offline. My go-to bag for trips is this Patagonia 100L duffle bag-enough room for me. Since I would be hiking in rain and coastlines I packed two pairs of shoes with me for this trip, my Blundstones, and Salomon X-Ultra hiking shoes.
Founders Grove
My first stop was at the Jedediah Smith Redwood Park. I had been here before but only could walk on the roads since we had the dogs.
Melissa gave me two suggestions for my stop: Boy Scout Trail and Stout Grove. When I arrived it was a torrential downpour. Plus side of traveling on a shoulder season is weather will limit the crowds. Taking photos wasn’t going to happen today-everything got soaking wet as a hiked, but that was okay. This moment made me reflect on the importance of not being so absorbed with technology when I am traveling. So I attempted a photo in the very wet rain, and put my gear and phone away as I hiked among the beautiful redwood trees. Since content creating is a part-time job for me, I often have to remember my why-why did I start my blog in the first place? To document my time spent in nature. So nature comes before technology. Bad weather is a great reminder in my why.
Avenue of The Giants
Apon arriving to Humboldt county the weather was not letting up, which meant my original plan for sunset at Patrick’s Point in Trinidad was cut short. I spent my time walking around downtown Arcata, and stopped for a cocktail and clam chowder at SALT Fish House, which I highly recommend.
This portion of my solo travel ended as I arrived in Eureka to visit Melissa and Jonathan. Our plan the following morning was to visit more redwoods! We headed to Avenue of the Giants in the morning, and once again had the entire place to ourselves. . When visiting popular photography spots I like to create my own personal moment with visiting, rather than focusing on replicating a shot we’ve seen 12x over again. So in pure Logan form, I got topless and ran down the road in my Sex Outside undies. *Sex Outside is a podcast by my friend Laura Borichevsky It was SO FREEING. Thanks to Johnathan and Melissa we got some pretty epic shots of me running down Avenue of the Giants. Check out the video Jonathan made here from the trip.
Eureka California
I had the day in Eureka to myself so I sent off exploring the area. I visited nearly every small shop I could-to my surprise Eureka was full of small boutique shops, restaurants, historic buildings, and bars. First I stopped at the Carson Mansion (Imgomar Club), the most photographed mansion in the US. The house was built in 1950 by a lumber family, and is now private, but you can view the mansion from the behind the fence. My personal favorite was the house across the street, the Pink Lady, which was also built by the Carson family. There is no fence here. As you can imagine its pink, cute, and a great place for photos. Other places in Eureka I suggest visiting:
-Jitterbug Coffee-AMAZING drive-thru coffee
-Speakeasy Bar-oldest bar in town, great cocktails.
-Sequoia Park-Gorgeous redwood park right in the city. Suspension bridges to open soon!
-Humboldt Bay Social Club-near the beach, great place for sunset and oysters.
After my stay in Eureka we headed North on the 101 to Patrick’s Point, where we visited Wedding Rock. Beautiful pit-stop if you are passing through, a short hike onto the rock where people get hitched. We explored around the right side of the cliff area and took photos. Entrance fee is $10 make sure you have cash.
Wedding Rock
As we continued north we picked a spot to hike for sunset. We headed to Cape Blanco State Park area and hiked Blacklock Point Trail before we headed to our treehouse. Be sure to wear the right shoes for this hike, its quite wet. The unique clifflines of the Oregon coast in this area is not to be missed.
When we booked the Heartland House treehouse in Langlois we were limited to weekday stays. I will stay, it will be worth it to stay here on a weekend as we woke up quite early to the sounds of logging trucks driving by (the treehouse is off a road). Other than that, we had no complaints! To my surprise as I started sharing this location it’s booked through November of 2021. When you have a bathtub that has warm water in the middle of the forest, AND and sauna..you might never want to leave.
The treehouse is tucked into some trees with two levels, one with the sauna,bathtubs, outdoor sink, and composting toilet. If you aren’t used to a composting toilet, it is a structure build in the woods that has a cover and toilet seat, an upgraded version of pooping in the woods, and you do have to go downstairs from the bedroom to use it. Melissa and I described it as glamping, so if you have never camped before this would be a great introduction.
Upstairs is equipped with a heated room with a refrigerator, tv and dvd player, and covered outdoor cooking area. Be sure to pack your own food to cook outside in the covered area. We visited in rainy season, and to be honest it was quite dreamy. Not sure if you could have a bad time here even if the power went out! I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
Pro-tip: there is no cell phone service here. We went through an entire propane tank for the bathtub and needed to contact the owner for a refill. We drove up to the top of the hill which is about a 5 minute drive and he was very responsive to change it out for us.
As I drove away from the treehouse back home that Tuesday, I reflected on the balance I felt on this trip. As a content creator, it’s important to have moments without your cell phone or camera in hand. With Melissa, that naturally happened. Sure, we got content along the way but what I remember most is the conversations we had. From social justice, the pandemic, to previous relationships, the connection we had was the highlight to my trip.
Conversations and connections on Instagram are the reason why I keep showing up. Nature is the connecting dot of the two in this case. I have been on trips with creators in the past-and sometimes that balance isn’t there. That’s not enjoyable for me. I am constantly reflecting on my relationship with the internet as it is a new part of our culture that I am living through. It can consume you entirely if you let it. Melissa asked me on the trip if I wanted to do it full time and my immediate answer was no. I guess I’d be afraid of turning my passion and hobby into my sole source of income. Maybe it’s the fear of not being able to enjoy the moments in nature and adventure. Maybe it feels to risky to quit my day job. Maybe that will change one day, but for now balance is what I will accept.
