Eureka!

I love the California coast, but it seems to rain about once a week. (And people say it rains a lot in Seattle...)

Being in a tent while it's raining is the most soothing sound in the world - I always sleep like a baby. And while I like the rain, it can complicate things a bit when trying to tent camp.

It's hard to cook, even under a tarp, and harder to break camp when your tent is soaking wet.

California = sunshine, right? Isn't that why it's known as the Sunshine State? Oh, wait, California is known as "The Golden State" for the gold rush days, but doesn't golden sound like it would mean sunshine?

Sorry, but the above venting comes from yet another rainy day in California, thus another hotel - this time in Eureka.



Eureka (Humboldt's county seat) is a busy seaport and an adorable town full of nicely renovated Victorian structures, funky shops and bars, and murals.






It reminded me of Baton Rouge in many ways, especially with everything closing at 5pm - right when we arrived. It was nice to feel like we had the quaint city to ourselves, though.









At last... some sunshine! Tuesday morning, we spotted a small brochure for Loleta Cheese Factory, and so we went. Loleta is a dairy producing town with more cows than people (People Population: 750 people, Cow Population: I don't know, sorry). heehee


When we arrived at the cheese factory, there were 2 milk trucks unloading their thousands of gallons of milk (about 5,700 gallons a day, according to the nice lady at the store).
It's a really tiny "factory," but produces 2 million pounds of cheese annually! You can view their cheese making process here.

We munched on a variety of cheese samples and ended up buying cheese curd (I know, it sounds disgusting, but it was quite tasty!).

Did you know that a cow has 4 stomachs, well, 1 stomach with 4 compartments?

Across the street from the Loleta Cheese Factory was this massive red-masonry building. A friendly gentleman walking down the street spotted us photographing the building and asked if we were interested in buying it.


I wish we had the money! Asking price - $675,000. It's a turn-of-the-century creamery - and the bricks alone are worth more than the building itself!

Without asking, the gentleman told us about the meat market down the street that had fresh local sausage - and had a giddy kid's grin when he told us about a little candy store in Ferndale.

Gotta love the locals! So, our next stop was Ferndale to find this lovely candy store.


To our surprise, Ferndale was another small historic town - "The Victorian Village." In fact, the entire town has been named a State Historical Landmark.

Funny fact: Wealthy, successful dairy farmers built many of the ornate homes in Ferndale. They are known as "butterfat palaces." heehee


We found Sweetness and Light Traditional Chocolates and treated ourselves (over the course of the next few days, mind you) to two decadent chocolate bars.




The Signature Mooo Bar - a mixture of caramel, toasted almonds, and homemade marshmallow dipped in dark chocolate. Lots and lots of calories!

And the Arlynda Bar - a mixture of caramel and nougat dipped in dark chocolate. More and more calories!








Ferndale also prides itself in being a Cow Town!



Sidenote:
Our path has crossed the Eel River for a few miles now. It flows North, which is most interesting. We've decided we'd like to kayak the Eel River in a few years... Summer is best.

We traveled south on Highway 101 and exited to The Avenue of the Giants - a more scenic 32-mile stretch of road paralleling Highway 101.


We felt like ants amongst these wonderful Redwoods - and kept the camera at the ready for Sasquatch!

Did you know...





Redwoods are taller than any other living thing.

They can live over 2,000 years and withstand most fires, floods, and insects.

Redwoods in Humboldt Redwoods State Park average 400-600 years old.








We hiked the 2.5 mile Drury-Chaney Grove and skipped most of the tourist traps - The Eternal Treehouse, Shrine Drive Thru Tree, Grandfather Tree, and the One Log House - and just enjoyed the calmness of the canopy of Redwoods.

Check out these pics!



We decided to take the rough road to The King Range Conservation Area and camp at Wailaki Campground. I'm not kidding when I say rough road! In fact, in the 1920's, when state engineers developed the coastal Highway 101, they decided to head inland because this section of the original road was too rugged for building a road. I can see why - the potholes were bigger than Louisiana potholes!

After a restful night's sleep, we drove to Shelter Cove to view the (relocated) Cape Medocino Lighthouse and explore the tide pools. Here, the mountains dive right into the sea!




We also watched a Cessna do touch-n-goes.


(Note: Shelter Cove is the start, or ending point, for hikers traveling the 25-mile Lost Coast Trail.)

With such great weather, we were anxious to get to our next stop: Mattole (Note: Mattole is the end, or starting point, for hikers traveling the 25-mile Lost Coast Trail.)



The Lost Coast Trail is now on our "List-o-Things to Do," too.


After a few hours walking the beach, we returned to our campsite. We met a lovely young couple originally from Forks, WA (Natalie and Aaron). They had 2 dogs, and right now I can only remember Bear's name, sorry. Needless to say, we got our puppy fix!


Natalie and Aaron had hopes to surf, but the water was a bit too rough or "washed out," as Aaron put it. The weather was spectacular for walking the beach, though, and that's what we did.


Interesting fact: The black sand beach of The Lost Coast is a result of greywacke (a dark grey sandstone that crumbles easily). We originally thought it was a result of volcanic ash, like in Washington.


The sky was so clear Wednesday night that we put our sleeping bags outside and watched the stars. We saw The Milky Way and her beautifully faint band of stars. I also saw 2 shooting stars - Yippee!






















We spent Thursday hiking to Punta Gorda Lighthouse - translated to "Substantial Point" - it is a 6.5 mile hike in the sand from Mattole.





















This abandoned light is formerly known as the "Alcatraz" of lighthouses due to its distant and remote location. Fortunately, it is on the National Register of Historic Places (1976) and is maintained by the US Bureau of Land Management.


Friday, we headed north through Petrolia (rightfully named as the site of the first oil well drilled in California). We passed through Ferndale again - this time for some coffee - then south on Highway 101 to our first tourist stop - - The Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree in Leggett, CA.

(Just a sidenote: This section of Highway 101 is known as the Redwood Highway. This year - 2009 - is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Redwood Highway.)


You didn't think we would do this road trip without stopping at SOME tourist-traps, did you? This is what America is all about! When we arrived at the park entrance, the nice lady at the booth said our bikes wouldn't fit through the tree... darn. Off with the bikes! A nice $5 adventure.

Signs says:
Here, sown by the Creator's hand,
In serried ronks, the Redwoods stand;
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know
The greatest of Earth's living forms.
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.
This is their temple, vaulted high,
And here we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awe-struck sould,
For here we sense life's proper goal.
To be like these, straight, true and fine,
To make our world like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, Oh traveler, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.

(Richie's additional last line: And that'll be five dollars, please.)


In Leggett, we hopped on California Highway 1 and headed south to MacKerricher State Park for the night.


We've made it to Fort Bragg (California, not North Carolina). It turns out this weekend is the 26th Annual Whale Festival, and you'll never guess - it's raining!


I have to say, we're getting better at checking the weather regularly - something we've never really done in the past. This is all still a great learning experience for us, but we're getting the hang of it. Surprisingly, a few of California State Parks offer Wi-Fi (something we've become heavily reliant on).


With the rain, it is a work day for us. I'm updating the blog, while Richie does actual work-work. We've been in some pretty remote places, so cellphone reception is scarce, so we'll make some phone calls while we're here. Looks like a good laundry day, too.

It's a hotel night, and with better weather coming, we'll camp the rest of the week.

Tonight we're going to a comedy show at the Northcoast Brewing Company - some fellow named Stu Stuart.

With our coastal adventures, Sally the Subaru is full of sand. Housecleaning time! And she already needs an oil change, but that will have to wait until Monday.

We appreciate all of your comments. I'm glad to see many of you are actually reading the blog!
Let us know how we can improve on it. We're currently trying to figure out how to map our travels online so you can actually see the roads traveled. Wish us luck!

With Love from the Road...

Michele & Richie

P.S. I promise to be more positive about the weather. :)