We arrived at the “Garden house at Little River” AirBnB on April 11th and met the owners Dave and Sharon.  They showed us around the house and where the supplies were, but due to Covid they didn’t stay long.  They live in Sacramento and headed out, leaving us to unpack and get settled.

The AirBnB is very nice.  It has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, a beautiful kitchen, a tv nook and a magnificent living room with a central fireplace.  The wrap around deck looks out over an English garden.

We settled in quite nicely.  The bedroom was very big and spacious. Certainly enough room for our 2 army duffle bags we have learned to live out of over the past 4 years.  LOL

We set out on the first day to purchase some groceries, since the host were not going to be living here with us.  Sharon would just transfer the money to our account once we sent her an image of the receipt.  It is amazing how easy it is to transfer money these days.

The work and the supplies we needed were very well organized by Dave.  Our job was to paint the house trim ( around windows, doors, and eaves), stain the deck and railing, and do the normal weeding and law mowing needed each week.

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We decided to start with the trim.  It was challenging at times to reach some of the windows but nothing we hadn’t done before.  We began by prepping the areas (washing with a cleaner, scrub with a brush and let dry).  Then the fun begins.  We hung tarps everywhere so we would not splash any of the paint on the clapboard.

1/2 an eave is done.  you can really see the difference.

I have to say we did a good job and it looks great.

   

Staining the deck was a bit easier.  We again prepped by washing the deck and railing with a special cleanser to help prevent mold and moss growth.  Then the rails and decks were stained.

before and after

    

It came out great.

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While we were doing the painting and staining we looked after the garden and lawn.  If you don’t know what and English garden is (I didn’t ), it is a garden that allows the plants to grow together.

Here are some pics of the garden.

     

There is not a lot of weeding and quite frankly Mike and I had a few discussions on whether of not to remove some plants.  We even had to call Dave and Sharon and ask if a particular plant that someone (not to name names – Mike) wanted to pull up but I thought should be left alone.  Of course I was right and the lovely plant is still growing nicely in the garden.

The lawn was very small and easy to mow.  We had never used and electric lawn mower before and found it is easy to clog.  I think I saw Mike cursing at it once or twice.

 

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When our work was done for the day we really enjoyed sitting in the little TV nook with the gas fireplace on.  It was VERY cozy and a nice way to relax.

Since many places were closed due to the virus we couldn’t get to go out too much.  Most beaches were only open for local residents.  Dave did leave us a truck to use if we had too, but we didn’t want to use it to park at the beach, so we caught up on our reading, wine sipping, and relaxation.

Dave had mentioned an out of the way, not well known beach we could walk to called Buckhorn cove.  He told us it was beautiful and usually was empty.  It took us a few times to find the entrance off the road as it was well hidden or maybe it was just us.  Either way we found it and I must say Dave was right.  Take a look at these pictures…

We visited this little gem a few times.  When the tide is down you can cross the rocks and go to the top of the tiny island called  Joey’s Island.  The views from there are magnificent.  Watching the waves crash 20 feet below was spectacular.

    

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One thing that opened up was something called rail bikes.  It is like a side by side pedal bike that rides on train tracks.  We decided to give it a go and bought 2 tickets.  These rail bikes do have small electric engines to help get them up to speed before you start peddling.

Now Mike and I know we are not that young ( we are certainly not old either LOL) but as we were peddling with the other rail bikers it seemed we were not able to keeping up with them.  The lead staff member had to stop a few times and check our rail bike.  You can image how good we felt when it was determined that the rail bike’s brakes were staying on all the time.  He switch bikes with us and we felt young again and were able to keep up with everyone else.  LOL

       

The rail goes several miles and then they turn the bikes around at a small clearing.  You can sit and have a snack while the staff is turning the bikes around (which is on a really cool miniature railway turntable) or you could take a short uphill hike.  We (now feeling completely vindicated) took the self guided hike.  It was really very nice.  The peddling back was a breeze now that the brakes were off.

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We took quite a few rides into Fort Bragg just north of Little River and did a little hiking.

        

There was a very cool looking entrance to one house where the ravens sat on the gates.  It reminded me of some Halloween spooky movie.  Here are a few pics…

Have you ever heard of Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, CA?  Well we had and I have a dear friend who loves sea glass (spoiler alert – you cannot take any glass off the beach).  What we didn’t know is that it is called Glass Beach not because of glass being swept up on the shore, but because of the “once” abundant sea glass created from years of dumping garbage in the area and leaving the broken glass on the beach. Reality check – we went to the Glass Beach, there is not that much glass anymore and the dump remnants are a very prominent feature on the beach.  The good news is they don’t dump garbage there anymore, the bad news is that it is not worth the visit.  We did get a good laugh out of the adventure though.

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It took us 5 1/2 weeks to complete all the jobs Dave and Sharon wanted us to do.  They were gracious enough to let us stay longer so we could figure out our next location since COVID was causing a few issues in that area.  Also with us taking care of the house, lawn, and garden Dave and Sharon didn’t have to make the 3 plus hour drive from their other home to tend to the AirBnB.

We stayed an extra 2 1/2 weeks.  The weekend we were scheduled to leave (May 23rd) Dave and Sharon came over and spent an evening with us.  We had a really nice dinner and they took us on a beautiful shore walk they often did while in Little River.  Take a look at these pics…

We really enjoyed our stay in Little River and Dave and Sharon were very pleasant and easy going hosts.  We would like to return some day, just to visit the beaches and towns near Little River and to see Dave and Sharon again.  We are grateful for their hospitality and willingness to let us stay in the garden house.  We are off to Vermont to do our 27th workaway.  Stay tuned.

Till next time…

“Traveling is a humbling experience.  It always leaves you with one thought:

My life may not be perfect but I am blessed”

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