Eureka

Eureka California is the Humboldt County Seat. Nestled in the midst of the giant redwoods it is a very cute and very Victorian town. While not the entire town like in Eureka Springs Arkansas, much of the town is on the National Register of historic places due to the preserved Victorian architecture. This home of lumber baron William Carson built in 1884 is said to be the most photographed home in the country. Carson is quoted at the time as having said “If I build a modest home, they will call me a miser. If I build a mansion, they will call me a show off. I guess I will just build a house to my liking.”

Carson was so wealthy that he kept showing off a bit, building as nearly an impressive a mansion across the street as a wedding gift for his son.

We learned an interesting little known fact about Eureka, at least little known to me. In the late 1800’s there was severe competition for limited jobs in the area, and in general, immigrants would work for less. In response the city council of Eureka passed the Chinese Expulsion Act of 1882. The act stated that all Chinese would be expelled from the city and not allowed to return. It appointed a committee to take actions as needed should any Chinese attempt to return to Eureka. Thirdly it publicly notified property owners that they could not rent or lease to Chinese. While seldom enforced after the frenzy subsided, the Act was not actually repealed until 1959.

Just south of Eureka is the Avenue of the Giants. This original route of highway 1 runs through the densest stretch of mammoth redwoods we have ever seen. The autosensing headlights on the Equinox kicked in as these towering giants literally blocked out nearly all the sunlight.

It was pretty easy to spot the remains of past retail glory. When all traffic passed through these hallowed stretches a vibrant service economy developed. Now as nearly all the traffic passes nearby on the rerouted highway 101, sadly very few of these family businesses have been able to survive.

Of course when I spotted one of the few existing businesses still open I couldn’t help but lend my economic support. The Woman wasn’t interested, but I insisted.

While the practice has long been outlawed, the owners of the few remaining drive through or walk through redwood trees work tirelessly to keep these oddities alive. I get it – I understand this is commercial voyeurism at its utmost. But I can’t help but be drawn to it.

It is much like using the iconic Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox to advertise anything that is tree or forest related. Who can’t get excited about that?

Or, how about using a great big wooden carved fish? They work on me every single time!

About 10 miles north of Eureka is the town of Trinidad and Trinidad Head. Trinidad Head is a rock jutting out into the Pacific, a creation of Plate Tectonics. On the Pacific side sits the Trinidad Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse is still fully operational and sits on Coast Guard property, unlike most of the other lighthouses which have either been turned over to the state of California as a park, or to a non-profit that takes over the maintenance and preservation of the structure. However we were able to get close enough to it to get a sneak peak.

A nice 4 mile hiking trail begins at a parking lot near the city pier and winds up and through the Head. We enjoyed the trail and the non-stop views it provided. After done we discovered the café situated on the pier and did lunch with a view as well. Sadly I was fired up about having some of the local crab they are known for. But due to some acidity issues in the Pacific the local fleets have been prohibited from harvesting crab at this time. Not only am I sad, but it is putting a severe financial hardship on the local fishermen.

While on the trail we spotted another small island in the bay. The Woman shouted “There is a blowhole on the back side of that island!” Sure enough she was right. We found a bench and watched for the massive plumes with each big wave. Our only regret was that we couldn’t figure out how to get a view of the other side of the island to see the blowhole better.

In Eureka we visited the Blue Ox Millworks Historic Park. The owner of this unique park was an avid collector of antique equipment, primarily manufacturing oriented. He has assembled here an eclectic collection of fabric looms, woodworking equipment, ceramic and glass making equipment, pretty much all of which still fully functional. For example, all the saws and lathes and routers in this area were manufactured in the mid to late 1800’s, all are human powered, and all are  and is still used daily in this unique business.
 

The Blue Ox is the only millwork operation in the US that can produce handmade pieces. Their claim to fame is in helping restore many fine old Victorian homes and buildings to how they would have looked at the turn of the century. Not only do they manufacture unique stuff but they train high school kids in the arts of woodworking, weaving or any of the trades that seemed to have all but disappeared. We saw many interesting projects in process as we wandered our way around the park.

We love when we stumble on things that are connected. It turns out that one of the major projects that Blue Ox worked on last year was a full sized replica of Abraham Lincoln’s hearse that was used in his many funeral processions to mark the 150^th anniversary of his assassination. After the celebrations it landed where it spends most of its time – the Lincoln Library in Springfield. I searched my digital images from that trip, and it turns out we actually saw the Blue Ox masterpiece when we were in Springfield!

We also strolled through the impressive Victorian structures preserved in the downtown along the wharf and in the adjacent early residential areas. We actually sought out a few of the buildings where significant restoration millwork had been manufactured by the folk as the Blue Ox Millworks Historic Park.

Although we had been to Redwood National Park before, there are several different California State Parks that have impressive groves as well. We spent a couple days hiking through these towering trees within Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

The drive through the center of the Park is much like the Avenue of the Giants. The sun is nearly obliterated except for a few bright streams. The road winds back and forth between the trees with not enough room in many places for two vehicles to pass each other – one of you just has to wait until the other gets through.

We learned a bunch of things we didn’t know about the redwoods. These majestic giants can easily grow to be 2 or even 3 times the height of the Statue of Liberty. We saw trees that were authenticated to be over 1,500 years old. They live so long that it is entirely possible that one or more of these trees were here when Jesus walked the earth.

We learned that despite being the largest living thing on the earth, the redwoods start out life modestly. Of all the conifer species, redwoods actually have the smallest pine cone seedling.

And finally we learned that dropping cones is not the only way these trees replicate. Many of the trees develop massive burls near their base. As they age, the burls will often sprout a new tree, either while attached or even if they become detached from the original tree. The result of this is often a clump of trunks that appear to come from a common base. They are not multiple trees just growing close together. They are actually all clones of the primary tree.

On the edge of the Park is the Lady Bird Johnson Grove. In August 1969, President Richard Nixon set aside an impressive grove of redwoods in honor of the service that first lady Johnson tirelessly and continuously gave to the American public. This may have been our favorite spot in the park.

While we didn’t end up seeing any bears or mountain lions we did manage to find a herd of maybe a hundred or so elk. We had been planning to set up our chairs in a clearing around 4 in the afternoon and just wait for them to come out. But around 3 we spotted this large herd and got as close as we comfortably could. They were nice enough to mosey across our trail, so we just sat there a while and watched.

Which left us with some chairs, a table, our $62 (oops, already ran my credit card before I knew what it cost, so just sucked it up) bottle of Pinot Noir and a corkscrew, but no place to partake. That is until we got to the coastal overlook along Klamath Beach. What a great way to end our visit!

Talk to you soon!