In His Element

Yesterday morning, David backed his Honda Element out of our driveway for the last time. The Element was kind of a goofy looking car, but it served us well. We sure hauled a lot of stuff in that  boxy interior! It also ran great, never a problem in nearly 180,000 miles. That's right - nine years old, and it had nearly 180,000 miles. That annual mileage falls a tad above average!

Maybe a guy who drives so many miles should have a more fuel efficient vehicle, yes? Through work, David has had the chance to drive both Honda and Toyota hybrids. Aaaaaand...nope. Once upon a time, he thought he wanted a hybrid. Glad he got to learn the easy way that a hybrid was not for him.

Instead, parked in the Element's place is a car that runs on diesel: a sleek gray VW Jetta SportWagen TDI, also known as a Golf Variant. It's rated at 42 miles per gallon on the highway, yet it accommodates our family plus a trunk-load of junk. It is also comfortable, and according to David, fun to drive. I did sit in the driver's seat for a minute, but didn't lay a hand on that stick shift. No plans to do so at this time, either!

Today we went on a little road trip to break in the new car. Paved highway, check. Unpaved road, check. Curves. Hills. Loose gravel. Mud. Stream crossing. Another stream crossing. Egad, what were we doing in this brand new car with five inches of clearance?!

We were going to Fern Canyon, in Prairie Creek State Park. It was lovely. The freakishly vertical canyon walls are covered with verdant moss and ferns. In the bottom of the canyon is a stream meandering back and forth over rocks. It was shallow enough to splash across today, but it looks as if the water could roar through there under the right (wrong?) conditions. David took pictures with his phone and posted them to Facebook.

After our walk, we cleaned up a little (complete change of clothes for the kids) and zoomed into Arcata for a sushi dinner. It was a good day, and all together an interesting weekend. Hope you can say the same. Happy Mother's Day!