Eureka-Simple Pleasures

We took the kids to Eureka, CA last week. It was priceless. If you have never been there, you should check it out. It has been a very long time since we had taken a solo-family trip (without another family or our extended family) and we felt that strolling through a forest with some of the tallest living things on our planet was the way to go.

Archimedes is rumored to have shouted the word, "Eureka!" after sitting in the bath and discovering the concept of displacement. Eureka, I have found it! He was looking for a way to solve a complex problem*... hmmmmm... and found it when he wasn't looking for it...hmmmmm...

After strolling through the "Lady Bird Johnson" redwood grove, we stopped at the beach. It was a bit of a hike down to the water and a bit of an adventure bypassing the washed out stairs, but worth it. On that beach...Eureka, we found it! Simple pleasure without spending a dollar. For the first time in most of our lives we had a brilliantly fun time as a family without spending money. That may seem terribly shallow, it is; but, neither Carolyn or I were brought up learning that fun and money were not necessarily linked.

We spent about an hour picking up agates, sea-shells, and drift-wood. We made swords, boats, sharks teeth, dragon scales, and a million other things with our finds. Wyatt found a sea anemone in a tide pool and watched it close around his finger. We saw crabs, seagulls, and pelicans. We listened to the ocean, found a waterfall, laughed, connected, grew together.

That is when I knew in my soul that we needed to deeply cleanse our money-stained souls. There is something so ethereal and holistic about a day spent well in nature discovering the depth and beauty of this planet. The wonder in my son's eyes and the playful squeak of, "look Daddy, look Daddy," from my daughter made me realize that I often spend a lot more than money when I pull out my wallet.