Why Humboldt?

This is a curious question I have been asking myself for years. I moved here when I was 18, fresh out of high school, nearly a decade ago. I really didn't know much about this place that I chose to move to. I knew no one here, I knew nothing of the weather (I didn't even own an umbrella!), nor did I know what a healing space I would come across. Come to think of it, I knew very little of my deeper self or about life's truths in general. But what I did know is there was something very special about Humboldt and it called to me. The decision I made to move here was based purely on intuition.

I grew up in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. The high desert was a very desolate, barren, economically depressed area where drug manufacturing and trafficking, teenage pregnancy and high-school drop-out rates were overwhelming, touching an obscene percentage of the population. Surviving, let alone flourishing and/or thriving in the desert was not easy. Temperatures in the winter dipped below the 30's where in the summer tipped the charts into 120's. Severe sand and electrical storms graced the other seasons. Physically, I had trouble with the extreme weather, passing out a lot as a kid and as a teenager. I wasn't built for the heat. I was determined to get out.

I was fortunate enough to have a science professor introduce Humboldt State University as a potential university that might sit well with me due to its small class size, strong art and science background, and it being one of the most affordable schools in the state. I came up my Junior year to check it out and...Humboldt resonated deeply within me. I only spent a quick weekend, but still I had never experienced anything like it. I remember it pouring rain, typical Humboldt winter weather, and even though all I had come with were flip-flops, I still reveled in the beauty of the rain as it washed over me and my very cold toes! (I would come to find the temperate climate and average 40 inches of rainfall a year soothing.) I had never been this far north, and never thought twice about much of anything existing north of San Fransisco. And it is no effortless trek to drive this far. It seems a two part drive, coming from southern California. The stretch to SF on the 5 isn't particularly difficult, more drawn out. Then from the bay area on up is much more a testament to one's patience and endurance with the windy, two lane highway and numerous enormous logging trucks whizzing by/impatiently riding your tail. Combined with the sheets of rain, depending upon the time of year, and the treacherous cliff-side views, the drive up is exhausting even for a very experienced driver. 

After my first visit to Humboldt, I knew and felt something change. A seed had been planted. I held onto that sense of wonder and magic and took home with me hope and motivation, although still pondering what it was I was drawn to. And...ten years later, I am happy to report that there is still a sense of wonder that is very real and alive that surrounds us here living behind the Redwood curtain. Something calls to us to come and  explore her rivers, her meadows, her beach trails, her majestic views of the coast, to sit in the forests at the feet of beings that have existed for hundreds of years. A wisdom calls to be shared with those who care to listen.