Sept 3

Sunny this morning, which is nice because we have plans to go to old town Eureka today.  We did a little laundry and headed out. We planned to take the Humboldt Bay Harbor Cruise today. This is a 75 minute narrated cruise aboard the Motor Vessel Madaket. The vessel is 101 years old and the oldest passenger carrying vessel in continuous use in the USA, owned by the Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum.  It is the last of the many ferries that carried lumberjacks and others up and down the water ways in this area.  We saw a variety of birds, along with Harbor seals and Harbor porpoise. It was really cold going along the water and seeing the sites.  There is a long history of the lumber industry along with the Yurok Indians and early settlers.  They apparently still ship out logs overseas from here but the pulp mill has closed after several tries and will be torn down soon.  We went all over the bay and saw so many things, the last being this memorial to the fisherman lost at sea. 

It was enjoyable to walk around old town and along the seemingly newly developed boardwalk, but again several places are closed, even on this Labor Day weekend, actually out-of-business is more like it.  I’m surprised how few people are in town in the afternoon on a holiday weekend.  We decided to go into a quaint little restaurant and deli, but they deli is out of business and the restaurant doesn’t open until evening. 

From there we took a quick look at the Blues by the Bay and decided we weren’t interested.  It is really just a lot of booths with things for sale, more like a sort of “flea market” – so we just headed back. 

By evening the fog has rolled back in and it is quite cool.     

Sept 2

Okay today we did NOTHING.  Yes, we ate meals (leftovers), played cards, watched TV, and read… relaxing day!

Sept. 1

We were up and out early this morning, headed to Crescent City.  It is clear and sunny and the drive was beautiful.  Our first stop was just south of Orick to see his herd of Elk.  There were so many of them and so close to Hwy. 101, it was a surprising sight. We watched them slowly graze and head north. From there we took Bald Hills Road and drove to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and Nature Trail, dedicated in 1968.  What a delightful walk!  The only thing that could have been nicer would have been the blooming season for the rhododendrons.  There were so many under the canopy it would be gorgeous if they were blooming. 

As we continued our drive, mile after mile of Redwoods thick and dense in the forest.  It is hard to believe that only 4 percent of the Redwoods are left after all the logging. 

Over the Klamath River (I love those golden bears on the bridge) and into Klamath for a stop at the Trees of Mystery.  After lunch we took the walk through again. They built a tram (in 2001) at one end of the walk.  The actual views when traveling on the tram weren’t so different but once up there they have built a viewing platform, well worth the tram ride up. 

On we went to Crescent City and the scenic drive along the coast.  We missed most of the town but noticed there are a lot of vacant buildings and homes as well.  The visitors center was closed.  We did see the Battery Point Lighthouse but when we drove out to walk to the St. George Reef Lighthouse we decided against that.  The wind and sand was blowing very hard and we decided to take the Prairie Creek scenic drive on the way home instead.  We also did an “Elk Search” but only saw a few this time in a totally different location.  The ones south of Orick were gone on our return trip.  Anyway, we had a great day and we are tired, we’ll sleep well tonight!