Sorry for the repeated delays in posting. We are wrestling with Internet access and other communications issues. Crescent City is a place where our phones "roam" and the fog is dense, so we don't get voice mail notifications, our mobile Internet doesn't work, and dropped calls are commonplace. So I have to post when I get a chance.

Tuesday morning I woke at 3:30 a.m. for no good reason at all, except I suspect that the Ray Jen Cafe, where I am getting my Internet fix, put regular coffee in the "decaf" Hazelnut I ordered the night before. Returning to sleep was impossible so I got to work at about 5 a.m. on the dinette, and then headed over to Ray Jen again at about 8 a.m.

Mid-day we headed out to the Ewok village, um, excuse me -- I mean Stout Grove, a particularly famous area of Redwoods nearby. The road itself is an adventure: one lane, twisting between massive redwoods, enveloped in fog ... downright magical.

A few miles down, we parked and hiked through Stout Grove and beyond. Here's Emma walking along a downed redwood, probably 300 feet long. It was probably over 700 years old when it fell.

If you are in the area, this is a hike to take. The Stout Grove trail and the little extension we did was an easy two-mile roundtrip along the river, with endless beautiful scenes. I didn't spot any Ewoks, though.