California – Page 6 – On the road with Jim

Fort Bragg – California

I feel like Mario Andretti after the roads we were on today, and I never went over the speed limit. I’ve been known to hustle a car down a back road or two, and even Fritz can outrun some of the so-called boy racers, but not with three thousand pounds of dead weight hanging off of the tailgate.

You probably have seen those yellow advisory signs that suggest the safe cornering speeds so trucks won’t shift their load and fall over. I’ve never seen one before today that had 10 mph signs. On the Pacific Coast Highway (Cal 1), there were at lest a half-dozen curves like that and a matching number of 15 mph. I had the cruise control set for 30, and even that was too fast at times.

The day started off normal when we left Eureka on the 101, which is a freeway sometimes and a two lane road when it’s not. Thirty-five miles out, we got off the freeway to take the Avenue of the Giants, a side road that goes through the groves of large redwood trees in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It’s a twenty-eight mile road that weaves it way through the large trees, and it feels like they didn’t remove any to pave the road.

The Avenue of the Giants is a side road that weaves its way through groves of old growth redwoods. The road is intimidating because the huge trees are at the edge of the road.

The monster trees stand at the roads edge, and in a couple of places, the roots lift the pavement. The road’s posted speed limit is 55, but even at 40, it feels like you’re driving down the Le Mans’ Mulsanne Straight at 235 mph (I honestly don’t know what that feels like either). The trees are so close that they pass by as flickers and the dappled light coming in through the crown exaggerates the sensation. It’s a good thing that you have to stop and take pictures every so often.

Anne Lost in the Redwoods — Anne takes in the grandeur of the ancient trees. Some of the larger specimens life span exceeds a millennia. Contrary to what’s Anne’s baby sister’s birthday card said, Anne did not plant them.

We traveled another thirty miles to Leggett, then turned onto the Pacific Coast Highway. Leggett is the town where you can drive your car through a living redwood tree. Since The Ritz is too tall to fit through the opening, we didn’t bother trying.

It was this section of the PCH that was demanding. The road climbed up a mountain ridge then descended into a small valley, then up a second ridge before it dumped us on the coast. We watched the mirrors constantly, so we could let traffic by, but we only had to pull over once.

Lost Coast South End — From this overlook to just south of Eureka, is the only section of California without highway access.

When we reached the ocean, we stopped to take in the view. This stretch of the California coast between where we stopped and north to Eureka is road-less. It’s called The Lost Coast, and if you want to see it, you have to go by sea or foot. While I’m dealing out trivia, it also has the western most point of land in the lower 48 states.

We’re going to rest here for another day and see what kind of trouble we can cause. After that we’ll head down into Northern California wine country, and pick up a couple of samples for our growing collection. After that, we have to avoid San Francisco. If I thought today’s roads were challenging, I certainly don’t want to drag The Ritz down Lombard Street.

Ferndale Tonight – California

Today, I shot enough gingerbread houses to make my teeth hurt. We spent time walking around Old Town Eureka, which has a good collection of buildings from that period. That wasn’t enough. Fifteen miles down the road is Ferndale, with even more Victorian style buildings. After a half day of ornate buildings, I had to drive out into the countryside to shoot an unpainted barn to balance my senses.

Carson Mansion — If you bought a piece of redwood lumber in the 19th Century, this man cut the timbers.

Today’s weather was cool and overcast, as it is often along the northern coast of California. It’s not cloudy in the normal sense, it’s more of a fog that’s a couple hundred feet in the air. If you drive up any substantial hill, you’ll be in the clouds, and then looking down on them soon after that. It’s all due to the Humboldt Current (which is too long of a story for this blog).

For those of you that are unaware, I confess to being a ‘foodie’. I like to try new foods (to an extent). Since I like to cook, I try to recreate tastes that I like in my kitchen. I’m not a trained chef, but I’m an avid Food Network watcher, and I’ve seen every Dinners Drive Inns and Dives (Triple D) a couple of times. With that in mind, it surprised me to learn that the host, Guy Fieri is from Ferndale and worked at a couple of local restaurants before flying off to Europe for training. I learned all of this by reading an article pasted in the local paper’s window. Wow.

Ferndale Meat Company — This is one of the restaurants that Guy Fieri apprenticed at before running off to Europe for culinary training.

On our trips, we try to look up good places to have dinner. In Eureka, it’s obvious that the younger generation are more adept at online reviewing. The local brew house was the number one choice, while the seafood restaurant we ate at last night was down on the list. I’m sorry to disagree, but burgers and wings in a loud atmosphere don’t trump linen and superior seafood and immaculate service.

Not A Victorian House — Aackl! I just needed to photographer something that wasn’t painted in six colors.

Tomorrow we’re on the move again, this time to Fort Bragg. Or as I like to call it, the poor man’s Mendocino. It’s not that far of a drive, but we’ll likely spend a lot of time in the giant redwoods we’ll be driving through. Only the Sequoia’s in the Sierra’s are larger. I really want to take some time to capture their grandeur for you.

Eureka – California

What a difference a day and one hundred sixty-four miles makes. Yesterday we were complaining about the heat in Oregon and this evening, I’m wearing a sweater. That’s because we’re on the northern California coast, where the low clouds have kept the temperature below 70° today. That is, as long as we stay along the shore, if you go a mile inland, the temperature soars.

The drive from Oregon was a bit more challenging than yesterday’s. We were on a twisty two lane road that had several construction zones, so we didn’t make very good time. I told Anne that the drive would be a lot more fun if we had Betty White; our other car.

Once we crossed the state line, we soon picked up US 101, a road that we’ll follow south along the coast until we head east sometime next week. The Redwood Highway is what they call this section of the 101, and for good reason. The road would skirt the beach for a while before having to turn inland to get around a mountain. As the road climbed into the clouds, we would be in dense redwood forests. The trees were beautiful, being both thick and tall. They were so thick, the automatic headlights would turn on.

Fritz in the Redwoods — A couple of times along this section of road, we entered the Redwoods National Park, where the trees were so dense, the lights would automatically come on.

I don’t remember exactly where, but the road dropped into a small town in a glade, and there was one of those signs warning about elk. Only this time, they were there. Fritz tripped the ten-thousand mile mark yesterday and he’s taken us through seven states and four Canadian Provinces. Finally in the last state, in the last week of our travels before returning to Arizona, we got to see a big herd of wild animals along the road.

Elk Along The Highway — After three months on the road, we finally got to see a large herd of wild animals.

Shortly after leaving the elk, the road made its way back to the shore, and I stopped to take a shot of some off-shore rocks. We pulled in behind a parked truck. The woman in the passenger’s seat rolled down the window so that she could tell us about the dolphins. Anne got out of the truck and we watched for a while suspecting that we missed them. After scanning the water, I saw one break the surface for a breath then watched as its dorsal fin went out of sight. I pointed in its direction and blurted, “There!” It took another minute before she saw one too. Then there were two, three and soon they were everywhere. In all, I think there was a school of a dozen or more working the small bay in front of us. They were too far out and only briefly broke the surface to get a good shot of them, so I didn’t try. We watched as long as we could before having to get back on the road.

Pacific Coast — We stopped to get a shot of the rocks off shore. As we watched, we spotted a school of dolphin swimming in the small bay.

We made Eureka by mid afternoon and set up camp. We needed to make a Costco run for provisions, which was on the other side of town. As we drove along the highway, we got a sneak peek at some Victorian homes, so that’s what’s on our agenda tomorrow. For now, I see the temperature has already dropped below 60°, so we have to put the comforter back on the bed to keep warm tonight.