25 March 2012

We spent Wednesday through Saturday this week visiting California's northern coast.  We stayed in Arcata, California and explored the redwood forests north and south of there.  It had rained heavily the week before we arrived and a creek had swelled across the road, blocking access to Fern Canyon, an area we wanted to explore.  We crossed the creek ninja style by walking on logs, then scrambled through the dense vegetation.  When we got across the creek and up the slope a short way, we discovered a bridge about 100 feet further up the creek.  Even more ironically, we had seen the bridge from the creek and had mistaken it for another fallen log.  In the photo of Abe below, the bridge is the next loggish looking thing upstream.  It is actually quite a substantial bridge, wide enough and sturdy enough for a truck to drive over.

This photo shows Sofi's idea of hiking boots.  She walked miles in these shoes this week.  

 

The first day we were at the beach, Gib got knocked down by a sneaker wave-- one of the unexpectedly large waves that break out of typical wave rhythm.  He kept his distance from the ocean after that, happily playing on the sand dunes while the other kids splashed in the waves.

Our friends offered to let us stay in their cabin on the beach.  The location was ideal, in the center of all the things we wanted to visit.  The photo of Gib above shows the beach we stayed next to-- very beautiful and we nearly had it to ourselves.

 

Our friends have a long history in the area.  Their parents built an underground house next to the sand dunes in the 1980s.  After they passed away, their children donated the house and most of their parents' beach front property to an organization called "Friends of the Dunes" which turned the underground house into a visitors' center and will protect the dunes for future generations.

We hiked through many redwood groves.  Helen liked that this grove was named after her.

It's hard to photograph the giant redwoods.  Walking through the groves is like being in a cathedral.  This photo of Abe standing on a burl gives some idea of the scale.  Many redwoods we saw are between 250-300 feet tall with diameters of 15-20 feet near the ground.

We took a short detour to visit the tiny town of Ferndale.  One of Ferndale's claims to fame is an annual kinetic sculpture race.  This cross-country race covers, land, mud and water, with contestants pedaling homemade contraptions.  The actual race is in May, but we got to see past race entries at the kinetic sculpture museum.

 

The entire town of Ferndale is listed as an historical site because of the many charming Victorian houses that have survived.

We spent a little bit of time on the boardwalk in the harbor town of Eureka.

We had many recommendations to eat at the Samoa Cookhouse from people familiar with the area.  The cookhouse was built in the 1890s to serve loggers 3 hot meals a day.  The restaurant looks just the same as it did over 100 years ago and pretty much serves the same food.  Everyone eats family style at long tables.  Dinner includes soup, salad, meat (roast pork and fried chicken the night we ate there), potatoes, vegetables, homemade bread and dessert.  Not being loggers, we couldn't keep up with the food.  The restaurant also has a little museum of logging which was very interesting.  After hiking through redwoods for several days, it's hard to imagine chopping one down with axes and handheld saws.

 

 Our trip coincided with opening night of the Hunger Games, easily the most anticipated movie of Sofi's life.  She and Brandan drove to Eureka to watch the movie.  Sofi loved the movie.

On Saturday we went to Patrick Point, a beautiful state park along the coast. 

 

Here's a photo of the kids climbing on Wedding Rock.  It's the same rock that's behind Sofi and Abe in the photo above.

The kids got a little more beach time in at Agate Beach before we drove home.  This beach was more gravelly than the beach near our cabin, but had the added attraction of being littered with agates.  Brandan picked up several.