Grab Your Popcorn — We're a long way from Hollywood but over the years, Humboldt County has been host to film crews of every stripe, along with an entire army of Ewoks.

A quick skim of our map sourced from the Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission's guide shows you where E.T. waddled in the woods and where movies like Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and Outbreak took advantage of our larger-than-life landscapes and historic architecture. And it's not just the blockbusters — cool indies have made Humboldt their backdrops, too, like the cult retro- occult picture The Love Witch and the trippy Swiss Army Man, starring Daniel Radcliffe as a corpse.

And there's a reason the camera loves us. In Perfect Trips, we'll tour some of the places caught on film, along with some downright cinematic views. (Hey, Terrence Malick didn't shoot Tree of Life here for nothing.) Take a trip back to the prehistoric days and see where the dinosaurs of The Lost World: Jurassic Park roamed. You can let the kids loose in the woods where everyone Tesser-ed to in A Wrinkle in Time — it's part of a beautiful park and playground where the film commission is showing the movie on a big outdoor screen this August. How cool is that? We'll also send you to some of our favorite indoor theaters for watching movies and plays, including one featured in The Majestic.

Not all our filmmakers are from out of town, either. In this issue you'll meet Maria Matteoli, writer and director of The Wine of Summer, which was shot both in Barcelona, Spain, and right here in Old Town Eureka. Keep an eye out for her next project Agnes, too. Her previous project had a local premiere at the Eureka Theater, a gorgeous Art Deco classic built in 1939. We'll take a tour of the place and introduce the folks who are restoring it to its former glory, raising money with classic movie showings and cocktails in the lobby.

There are transportive dining experiences to be had, too. We'll hit up Sammy's BBQ for Polynesian-style barbecue from the Vainuku family. (Get the pineapple upside-down cake. Trust me.) Keeping it tropical, Taste of Bim brings Caribbean flavors to Old Town with traditional cuisine from Barbados, from goat curry and jerk wings to a very serious bread pudding with rum sauce.

The adventurous can work up an appetite paddling a kayak to and from a local spot for crab sandwiches that has its own little dock. (Didn't bring a kayak? No problem — there are rental options so you can still tour our waters and see our wildlife up-close.) The less active among us might prefer to set sail on the boat crafted into the bar at the Boathouse Bar and Grill. Now, that place needs to be in a movie — not too many places like it left. Send me a treatment and we'll do lunch right at the bar.

Finally, we're rounding up some of our favorite souvenirs along the Avenue of the Giants and beyond, from kitsch to artisanal craft, for our Browsing section. And it could all be yours, minus the legwork — see the layout on page 74 for details on how you can win it all.

Ready? Lights, camera, action.