Day 7 - Ukiah CA to Gold Beach OR
Day 7 - 23 June 2006 - Friday
--- Starting in Ukiah, California ---
We started out from the Motel 6 in Ukiah, where the light was burnt
out in the bathroom so we got to shower in the dark. The one exit
from the parking lot of the motel was guarded by the "Danger Chain":
We continued driving up Highway 101. We were now
in the land of Intel processor
code names: Mendocino, Tillamook, Klamath, etc.
We got off the main highway and drove through the "Avenue of the Giants",
a road that zipped right among the redwoods. It was very pretty, but
it was nearly impossible to get a representative picture. The trees
jutted out into the road at times, and the ones that did had scars
from being hit by cars in the past.
We stopped at
Humboldt Redwoods State Park,
and walked around the
south fork of the Eel river for a while. Here is a picture of me
standing on a giant tree stump there:
The Eel River had a major flood back in the 60s, and the visitor center
museum had a mark on the wall showing how high the floodwaters
had risen.
We next decided to head to Ferndale, to see the Victorian houses there.
Along the way we passed near an extremely smelly cheese factory, and due
to bridge construction got to smell it for quite some time. Here's a picture
of the Eel River from that bridge:
We got to Ferndale, whose homes were known as "butterfat palaces"
built by the Danish and Portuguese settlers who made a fortune on butter
(at least according to the AAA book). This particular one is the most
photographed one, at least according to the postcard I bought:
After that we went to Loleta and stopped at the
Loleta Cheese Factory.
Here you can see them making the cheese:
They had a pretty garden behind the factory that had some amazingly
blue flowers:
We bought some cheese, and continued on to Eureka, where we regained
the Pacific coast. Eureka also had a famous Victorian Mansion, this
one built by a lumber baron:
We then continued up the coast to
Redwood National Park.
There were some Elk crossing a river, so we stopped to look:
We then drove up a hill to see the Lady Bird Johnson grove. There
was the sign with the famous admonishment
"Feed a Jay, Kill a Murrelet" of which I unfortunately neglected to get a
picture (as the phrase underwent many
mutations further on during our trip, I think ending as "Feed a Duck,
Kill a Marmoset"
).
Here I am, in front of the roots of a fallen tree:
We stopped near the Big Tree Wayside for a short walk, but a man
there convinced us to go on the much longer and prettier trail
to Cathedral Grove.
Here we were, on the Forest Moon of Endor:
The Redwoods here were tall and beautiful, though the forest was a bit
hotter and dryer than at Muir woods. Here is another tall tree:
And here is a Banana Slug:
We took a side road along the coast to the mouth of the Klamath River.
Here is a picture of the coast there:
Near where that picture was taken was a WWII radar station that
had been designed to look like a farmhouse so the Japanese would not
realize what it was.
It was starting to get late, so we pushed on to Oregon.
--- Arrive in Oregon ---
We stopped for the night in Gold Beach. We ate at a really good
Chinese restaurant, and stayed at a very nice motel. The only
disturbing thing was all of the Tsunami Warning Information
(Run Away! Run Away!). posted
everywhere.
After supper we took a walk on the beach and watched the sun set. If you
look closely in this picture you can see an otter swimming in the ocean:
--- Ending in Gold Beach, Oregon ---
Continue on to Day 8