Friday morning we awoke to big water puddles all over the RV park. We have been lucky so far with rain overnight but decent daytime weather. The hurricane type weather they have been threatening has not come to fruition. Today we did a scenic drive. Our first stop was Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge where we completed a 1.7 mile walk through the marsh, viewing numerous water birds.
Our next stop was Loleta, where we came across the Loleta Cheese Factory. They make many different cheeses; one we discovered that we particularly liked was a garlic cheese. We then went to Ferndale a neat little town renowned for its Victorian Style homes and storefronts. We then headed to Petrolia over hills on a narrow steep road, going from sea level to 1800 feet and then back to sea level near Petrolia.
We carried on the scenic loop toward Humboldt Redwood State Park, the road again narrow, rough and we climbed to an elevation of 2860 feet this time before coming back down through the state park. We stopped in Redcrest for coffee, and while the coffee was brewing, we found some Redwoods hoodies. The rivers are all overflowing their banks, quite a difference from California the past few years where water has been at a real shortage.
Saturday was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. Our first stop was the Arcata Christmas craft market at the Community Center. The only thing that struck our fancy was a couple of coffee mugs, which we bought as backups, since we have had so much trouble finding the style of mug we like. We then headed to Trinidad. Our first stop was Trinidad State Beach where we did a 1.4 mile walk to College Cove beach and Elk Head. It was a great little hike with fantastic views down the coast, where we were able to watch the surfers on Trinidad Beach. Our next stop was the hike up (1.5 miles), to the Cross at the top of Trinidad Head. At the top we were able to view the Historic lighthouse (1871) which is still operating today.
We then went back to the trailer to watch curling.
Sunday, we went into Eureka to walk around their historic downtown area.
We found an interesting map store where we were able to pick up the California Road and Recreation Atlas with back roads and hikes marked on it. After we walked along the boardwalk we headed to Arcata to their downtown area. As it was Sunday many shops were closed. We headed back to the trailer to watch the Grand Slam curling finals.
Monday was our last day at the seashore. We are planning to head inland tomorrow. We decided we should go for a final beach walk. We went to Clam Park on the Hammond Coast Trail to walk along the beach. While there we chatted with a woman from Colorado who was traveling up the coast to Oregon. After our walk we went back to the trailer to do the usual housework in preparation for tomorrow's move.
Tuesday morning the rain held off while we packed up. As we headed further south along 101 we encountered areas of rain. The drive down the redwood highway was really nice, not much traffic and the scenery was wonderful. We stopped in Garberville at Bon Bistro and Bakery. John had his usual favourite caramel machiatto and Joan found a new favourite Peanut Butter Cup frappucino. A short while later we stopped at a rest area, and chatted with a fellow about Canadian hockey. As we returned to the truck, his first question was 'Are you an Oilers fan or a Flames fan? He was a California resident, but had lived some of his life in Ontario and his Mom still lived there. He was a Toronto Maple Leaf fan, but is now a Sharks fan. John admitted to being an Oilers fan and Joan told him she was a Boston Bruins fan. After chatting with him for a while we both carried on. We arrived shortly after lunch at the Willits KOA. We found that the office is closed for lunch from 11:00 A.M. until 3:00 P.M. As we were looking at the information on the wall, we heard a voice behind us, which turned out to be coming from the intercom at the electric gate into the park. She told us to look at the night check in information for which sites were available, which was basically any site. We walked through the park, chose a site, buzzed them so the could let us in the locked gate. The site was pretty level so we didn't bother unhooking the truck for a one night stay, and the cable TV's 10 channels was adequate, since there is no curling or Canadian sports on today, so didn't need to set up the satellite either. By the time 3:00 came around we were set up, the electric heater had warmed us up and the rain had started. We went to the office and paid our fees and got our wi-fi password. We emailed an RV park in Sacramento to see if they had space for us the next night.
Wednesday morning we took highway 20 across the hills, and along Clear Lake, which is a beautiful drive. We arrived in Sacramento about 1:30 at the rv park we had emailed, but had no reply from. That was a common occurrence and every rv park we had been at to date was almost empty, so we hoped it would have space. No space at this rv park. So we had to find a plan B. Thanks to our Good Sam Directory we found a RV park in Auburn about 20 miles up interstate 80, called them and found they had space for a week. We headed out and found that the sites were decent with easy satellite access and good wi-fi. We figure this is the place to be over Christmas where we can Skype with family. We did some searching about the area and found there is some Christmas events happening and hiking in the area.
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