Ferndale 2006

A few weeks ago we made the trip up north to Ferndale, CA to see some friends of ours. It's a quite a lengthy journey and takes 6 hours to get there. 6 hours in a car with two 6 month olds, a dog, and a heck of amount of gear is a fair challenge, but we did it. Heather and I are like that. It's funny though, because if you travel 6 hours from one end of the UK to the other you'll cover about half of the entire island. Incredible that it only gets you to another part of the state here in Cali.

We were meeting up with Chris and Randi. Chris is an old pal of mine from high school, and regardless that he lives pretty far from me, he still is in the same state, so we had to go see him. Not to mention that his wife is due to give birth virtually anyday now, so time was of the essence before they have far too much to deal with and won't be able to entertain the veritable circus that is my family.

As Chris and Randi live in an apartment, Heather and I decided to rent a "cabin". The word "cabin" sounds very romantic indeed, however, the reality of ours was one that looked like it was picked up at IKEA and put together in about 4 hours. Don't get me wrong, it had heat and was pretty solid, but let's just say space was at a premium. The picture above was taken in front of our only window. We had two portable cribs, Heather and I, and our dog in this place. It was like a cave. I felt like a caveman sleeping amongst my clan. That was pretty cool.

ANYWAY, I've been wanting to visit Chris for some time now as he is working at this remote recording studio which he has told me a lot about. It sounded intriguing. A proper studio stuck out in the back and beyond of California. I imagined some small-ish operation that catered to Humboldt County hippy rockers.........but man, was I wrong. In short, I've never seen anything quite like it. Let's put it this way, I'm sure if The Rolling Stones were sent here to record their next album they wouldn't mind at all. This place was rocknroll heaven. More to follow below.

Randi and Chris (plus my progeny) on their balcony. They live right on main street in Ferndale. It is a town that time has left behind and Hollywood pines for. Incredibly charming, strikingly quaint, and an amazing representation of old California coastal towns. The place is so friggin' far from anything that it has the extra bonus of few tourists. You feel as if you've stumbled upon a place that is secreted away from the world. You see that little blue building behind Randi? That's a PUBLIC restroom. When is the last time you saw one of those anywhere?

Chris in the studio he works in. I wanted to post all of the pictures I took in this place, but there are far too many. The studio is basically a mansion that has been fitted out as a recording space. Every room was designed with specific instruments in mind. There are individual rooms for guitars, drums, etc., each one conducive to that particular instruments acoustics. They have an in-house chef on hand everyday, a lounge that would not look out of place in Trump tower, grand pianos everywhere, and when Chris showed me how every single room was wired to be used as a potential recording space which included the multiple bathrooms, I pretty much just gave up on being impressed and moved into being overwhelmed. When I asked Chris how much this place cost to put together and fit out, he paused for a moment and said, "Oh, I dunno man, lots of millions". Considering that the main engineering sound board in the place cost 3 million alone, I'm sure he was being conservative.

A surplus of guitars are kept on hand in case the recording musicians suddenely feel the urge to incorporate a rare Les Paul into the session. I almost passed out when he showed me this room. When I asked Chris if I could possibly play just one of them he simply replied "These guitars are meant for playing, play them all if you want". Thanks Chris. I could only get through about 3 of the damn things before my head was spinning. A twelve string electric Rickenbacker? Hello? I felt weak in the knees.

We finally moved on from the Shangri-La of all recording studios and on to the beach. North West beaches are all relatively the same. Sorta cold, sorta windy, and make you feel that you are somewhere wild and rugged. It ain't Florida that's for sure. Our pooch pictured above would probably want to stay there forever if we didn't drag him back to the car. What is it with dogs and beaches? I guess it's the same as it is with people and beaches. They simply captivate.

Heather and I with the little fellas, but heck, they don't seem so little anymore. Although they will never directly remember weekends like this, I hope in some form that things like sleeping in cabins, waking up to cool forest air, and the feel of the salty wind across their faces leave an imprint on them. In even the smallest way, I hope it helps shape who they become.