Shooting Up Trinidad

I spent much of the weekend traveling in a Toyota Prius between Salem and Trinidad, California--about 11 hours worth of driving total--for a race that I was photographing for finishshots.com. The race has an interesting feature where the runners have to cross a river to reach the race's final stretch along Clam Beach. And that was where I got to shoot. The river was pretty tame compared to last year, I heard, but still the Coast Guard carried about five of the participants (all young, attractive women, if memory serves me right).

The trip itself was long but manageable. I read while the sun was out, and I had my Zune with plenty of movies and tv shows to watch once darkness settled in. We stopped in Roseburg for dinner at Subway and arrived at our motel in Crescent City, CA, just before 10:00 p.m. Although it rained much of Friday, Saturday morning brought sun and 60 degree temperatures. Before we drove to the race (about an hour south) I spent about an hour just reading in the sun--truly a peaceful and enlightening moment.

While telling about my adventures to the boys, after I had returned home, there didn't show much interest until I told them that I drove through the forests of Endor. So if you ever want to take a family trip to the Redwoods, and you have boys (or girls too, I suppose), just tell them that's where they filmed the forest scenes from The Return of the Jedi, and they'll be excited to go.

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