We drove to the cute little coastal town of Eureka -- famous for its Victorian Era houses.
Here are a few of our favorites.
Also in Eureka was an old fort from the days of the early settlers in the area. They had some neat things to see, including old steam engine trains...but it was all outdoors and rainy so we didn't stay long.
Next stop was an adorable coastal town called Trinidad. It was still super foggy, but that only added to the charm. We took a hike around the Trinidad Head -- a craggy outcropping of rock. We thought it was a trail taking us to a lighthouse. It didn't...or at least we couldn't see it in the fog...but it was still beautiful and a nice break from riding in the car. We thought it was a simple, quick nature trail but it ended up being over an hour long hike. No big deal except were not prepared: no snacks, no water, no bathroom stop before we started. But the kids were troopers and it turned out to be fun.
Walking up the trail with the pier behind us
These ginormous banana slugs were everywhere. Ewwwwww.
A look back at the town of Trinidad and the coast. Breathtaking.
There were lots of these tunnels made out of tree branches
Gotta stop to squeeze the kids!
The fog just never seemed to let up.
I found myself blinking a lot...thinking my eyes were blurry
but it was the neverending fog.
We had one more stop along the coast that day. Patrick's Point State Park. Another one of Kenny's recommended places to go. It was beautiful. We took a few hikes: out and up onto craggy outlooks and down to rocky beaches nearly 100 feet below. And through it all...the constant, unbelievably thick fog.
Eric, Mason & Colby on Wedding Rock. The camera wasn't out of focus...it was the fog.
Lots and lots of stairs
Heading down the trail to the beach
Colby loved the natural forts on the side of the trail.
He could have played their for hours
Sadie felt like she was in a fairy world.
The boys did a little rock climbing
The girls joined in the fun too.
Down on the rocky shore...looking for marine life in the tide pools
(we didn't find any)
We did see (and hear) some seals/sea lions -- I couldn't tell which from that distance
There were a few more stops that we had planned to make that day -- Agate Beach and Fern Canyon were at the top of our list. But we just ran out of time and energy. Each hike took longer than we planned -- there was just so much to do and see. It was a very full day and we were all exhausted. We were tempted to find a motel and stay the night so we could finish up sight-seeing in that area but we were anxious to get to our next stop as well. Instead we just made future plans to come back and camp in the area another time.
As we left California, en route to Eric's Grandma's house in Oregon, we went through another Redwood forest. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures as we went zooming through them.
3 comments:
All you california pics are so pretty. We live here and haven't been to some of these places.
Growing up in Tucson wouldn't prepare you for those slugs! It looks like you have had a great experience and created many great memories. Great pictures.
Sounds like a really fun trip! You were meticulous with your planning. Brian loves to do trip planning like that, too, and I am grateful because it makes for some fun trips! BTW, I think Trisha once told me that Paul is from Eureka. Looks like a neat place!
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