Road trip day 21 - Chico, northern California (Sun 30 Nov)

From Eureka our next stop on our planned 'itinerary' was to visit one of Brenda's cousins, Angus, who lives in Chico in northern California.

We were  running a day behind our initial plans, as we aimed to be in Chico on the Saturday already. We then figured out that another cousin, Geordie, flew in especially from LA to also join in the festivities, as he was also under the impression that we were going to be in Chico on the Saturday, and was booked to fly back on Sunday.

As a result of our cock up, we really wanted to see Geordie before he flew back, and decided to take the shortest route from Eureka to Chico, which was only just over 200 miles:

Choosing this route probably ended up being not such a good decision, as most of the road up to Red Bluff was either on a windy road through a forest, or on a windy road on some mountain pass. I don't think I have ever driven on a road with so many turns and corners.  

This was about the straightest bit we drove on ALL day . . .

 On top of this it was mostly raining, so it was just impossible to really drive fast. The RAV's useless brakes also contributed to me not having fun behind the wheel in the rush to get to Chico.

Aahhh - at last:

And no clown in sight . . .(inside joke if you grew up dining in SA's Spur) 

Fall was still a little bit behind here in Northern California compared to some other places we have been, which was evident form the beautiful colours.

Before this trip to the US, I had only met Gregor, the oldest of Brenda's four cousins on Aunt Fio's side. I then met Bruce in Austin and was now really keen to meet the other two of this brotherhood - such nice and interesting guys!

Angus is a master brewer and lives about 10 miles outside of Chico, on a communal type farm that he rents. I think it is an awesome place. Certainly an irresistible bachelor pad:

The man's truck in front of his pad

This is what the charming inside looks like:

Kitchen

View from the main sitting room - check out the little nest on top :-)

Lekker fire place

And of course you can't give yourself out to be a master brewer if you don't have at least a few of the good stuff in close range:

I can confirm that ALL three brews were su..BURP!

Realy an interesting contraption that serves ICE cold craft beer. Have to get one of these!

And another one

Then, if the beers are starting to cool you down, just head on down to the jacooz:

If the 'main' house with its beer on tap and jacuzzi a few yards away proved to be unsuccessful as a chick magnet, there is of course always the tree house as a last trump card:

Its got a tree growing right through it!

We really had a fun and very interesting evening with Angus and Geordie - so nice to meet these cousins after all these years.

Thanks dudes and thank you for flying up from LA, Geordie!