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Northern California: Part II

Posted by sila
Thursday 12 January 2006 at 09:33 am.
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Eureka!! We finally arrived there!! To Eureka, California that is. We drove the 5-6 hours north on highway 101 until we reached Eureka, and we checked into our hotel with great relief. It was pitch dark, we were tired and hungry, and it had rained the entire drive.

The next morning, we woke up to sunny skies and beautiful weather. So we got together with Jeff (Vin's buddy from La Porte High School, IN) who lives in Eureka, and he took us to see the sights.

It was such a beautiful day, we decided to go to Trinidad Head to see if we could spot any seals. Sadly, no seals were to be found but look at the gorgeous view!

Vin and Jeff looking out to sea
Trinidad Head from the cliffs
More Trinidad Head

We climbed down a long and rickety stairway to get down to the beach.

View from halfway down the stairs
On the beach
Vin on the the beach

Rocks off Trinidad Head
Trinidad town way in the distance
Foggy and mysterious faraway rocks
The pier

After a long climb back up, we looked at the Light House and Bell.

Lighthouse Memorial to those lost at sea
The Memorial Bell

Then we drove back to Arcata and went to the city of Arcata's redwood park. This is Vin's and my first glimpse of a true redwood on this trip, and my first view of redwoods, ever! As we walk in, the temperature is markedly cooler than outside, it's really peaceful and quiet (can't hear the noises made in the city of Arcata), very damp and moist too.

We enter the park
Leafy treetops far overhead
Trees trees trees
Vin and Jeff - some perspective on the size of these trees
A humongous stump of a dead redwood tree
Vin and Jeff, looking up at the treetops
Vin may look Photoshopped, but this picture has not been doctored

It was amazing - we just loved it. I did not see any ewoks but as these were not old-growth Coastal Redwoods (these trees were probably only 200-300 years old, and old growth redwoods are estimated to be 500 years or older) I felt that the ewoks had probably moved away due to the proximity to humans. Jeff told us that on our way back south the next day, we should hit the Humboldt State Park for some really old and huge trees. I was completely blown away. These are not the huge trees? Sure looked huge to me!

So then we drove on back to Eureka and took a quick tour of the town.

Amazing old house in Eureka built by an olden day lumber baron
The lumber baron's son's house
Trees right by the downtown - beyond the trees is the harbor

All in all, we had a wonderful day. The weather cooperated beautifully, and Jeff was a wonderful host. We had dinner with Jeff and his family that evening.

six comments

Hisham
Hisham (Email ) - 12-01-’06 11:01
siewjang
siewjang (Email ) (URL) - 12-01-’06 15:12
sila
sila - 12-01-’06 15:13
Lil
Lil (Email ) (URL) - 13-01-’06 01:30
Hisham
Hisham (URL) - 13-01-’06 01:51
siewjang
siewjang (Email ) (URL) - 16-01-’06 16:15


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