" Everything about a redwood forest was prehistoric: the ancient trees themselves, each growing on the rootstock of some much older specimen, many of them hollowed out by lightning but still rising, stretching hundreds of feet into the sky. Even the ferns were oversized, spanning the width of a small car. You could imagine dinosaurs walking among these trees. They seemed to exist outside of ordinary time, which may explain why all of Humboldt seemed to be one or two steps out of synch with the rest of the world. People here had redwood trees in their backyards. You were never far from the infinite. "

― Amy Stewart , The Last Bookstore in America