Spaghetti Farts

After a day at the lighthouse, we decided to tour the town of Point Arena.

While the folks at Point Arena Lighthouse were exceptionally kind and welcoming - the town of Point Arena was completely different.

As we walked this town of 450 people, we instantly felt like Forrest Gump. Do you remember in the movie when he first stepped on the schoolbus and the freckled face kid said "seats taken," and another whiny voice said "can't sit here"? Well, that's the vibe we got from the folks of Point Arena. Unfortunately, there was no Jenny to say "You can sit here if you want to."

We later discovered that Point Arena is a farming community and doesn't rely on tourism like surrounding communities. However, the local Lighthouse Peddler paper had a Scuttlebutt article by Mitch McFarland - discussing the restaurant business - and how it is one of the toughest businesses to be in. It mentions the state of the economy - and about 3 local restaurants that have recently shut down. The locals can only go out for dinner so often, I suppose.


Fortunately, we found some friendly old ladies at the public library. One was attempting to refill the cumbersome ink cartridge on the copy machine and the other was at the front desk promoting the upcoming book sale. They were very clear in sharing that the library was run by volunteers and the importance of the book sale.

We are terrible, I know, but we didn't buy any books. But we did make use of the library's new free wireless for a few hours. While we were working in this quiet little library, there was a cute little old lady in the back corner of the fiction section just farting away! And I'm not talking little squeaks - I'm talking rumbling in your tummy farts - gurggle, gurggle! We didn't turn around to look because our moms taught us not to stare, but when we saw her, I looked at Richie and said "How in the world could those gigantic farts come out of that little lady?!" She must have been 80 lbs.

On our way back to the car, we spotted a sandwich board advertising an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner to support the local senior center.


We thought - why not? Who could pass up an opportunity to help the Senior community?


Remembering our Forrest Gump vibe from earlier, we decided to take our spaghetti dinner back to Manchester State Park (north of Point Arena) where we could be "like peas and carrots, again."

Turns out there was a couple from New Jersey right next door to our campsite. They were driving a 1998 Subaru Outback with over 180,000 miles, and I instantly thought of Heidi and Lori (who both drive Subaru Outbacks from the late 1990s)!

They were doing a road trip and started having engine trouble, so they are driving to Montana to sell the thing! The man said you can get the best price for a used Subaru Outback in Boseman, Montana. He and his wife slept under the stars and woke up covered in dew. We've thought many times of sleeping under the stars, but feared the dew!