We’re starting to wind down and wear out. Saturday will be our last full day in Trinidad before we begin the three-day trek homeward. So tomorrow (Saturday) will likely be the last blog post.

Friday’s weather was just about perfect for deck viewing, so that’s pretty much what we did. We did go back to the Seascape Restaurant for one last breakfast.

Then it was pretty much going to be a veg day at home. However, Elaine decided to walk down to the beach below us. It’s a steep climb down and even steeper back up (or so it feels like). But off she went. After she left, I decided to join her. Tough on the knees going down; tough on the lungs coming back up. But we both made it. The beach was always known as Indian Beach until that became politically incorrect. So it was renamed Old Home Beach. Everyone still calls it Indian Beach. From the beach you can catch two glimpses of our Sea Cliff House way up above.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

The pictures from the beach walk.

And a panorama (click to enlarge)

The rest of the day was spent on the deck. Around cocktail hour a whole bunch of pelicans landed on the beach and on the rocks. What do you officially call a whole bunch of pelicans? A school? A bevy? A flock? Do you know? Answer after the pictures of the pelicans and some other birds on the beach (taken from the deck way above)..

So, a bunch of pelicans can be called a squadron, a pod, a pouch or a scoop of pelicans. It says so here.

And some final snaps taken from the deck.

One final picture. This was taken with my sunglass lens held over the lens of the camera.

Another nice day, intermittently sunny and foggy. No rain. We decide to drive 30 miles north and visit the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (co-administered by the California Parks System and the National Park System). Always good to walk amongst the big boys.

We drove the whole length (30 odd miles) of the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway where you are right there with the redwoods. 25-35 mph speed limit. Lots of places to stop and take walks. And not crowded.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

The star of the show is the Big Tree.

Here are more pictures of our walks around the redwood giants. See Elaine tree hugging. See huge mushrooms growing on the trunks of some trees.

After the Redwoods, we stopped in Orick, a once thriving lumber town now reduced to just 350 odd people (and some of them are very odd). The K-8 elementary school has eight students (and two teachers). This is Elk Country and we usually see lots of elk grazing on both sides of the highway. We didn’t spot even one this year. We did stop at EdeBee’s Snack Shack for lunch. It’s been there since 1947. We found this place on our last visit, and it’s a must stop. We met the owner and the town weirdo (two different people). The weirdo will talk to you, but if you aren’t talking to him, he continues to talk anyway in conversations with imaginary people. Eventually he rode off on his bike. Elaine had a beef burger and I had an elk burger. We shared fries and onion rings.

And we met the owner of the semi-closed hardware/junk/antique store next door to the Snack Shack. He’s trying to sell it for $750,000. Good luck with that. There does seem to be a lot of neat old stuff inside, but that’s a lot of money for potential junk. He does have some neat signs in the windows. I asked him if he’d take $500K right now and he replied, “Hell, yeah”.

We stopped again in Trinidad to visit a gift shop or two. I walked around and took pictures of flowers while Elaine shopped. The last picture is from a small side road. What is it? You decide. I don’t know.

Night shots from the deck last night. Bright moon. That’s Trinidad Pier with all the lights.

Tonight we did sit on the deck with some sun and some fog. Add fog to things I don’t understand like how planes fly (yeah, yeah, aerodynamics), how big steel ships float (yeah, yeah, buoyancy), and cryptocurrency (yeah, yeah, block chains). One minute you can see the three rocks (Papa, Mama, and Baby rock). A few minutes later you can’t see Papa Rock at all. Anyway, here’s some pics. See the moon in the last picture?

Where did Papa Rock go in these two pictures? The fog bank rolled in.

We awoke to nice blue skies and decided breakfast out was a good idea, so it was back to the Seascape Restaurant. Elaine had scrambled eggs and sausages with home fries. I, of course, had a Hangtown Fry. No food pictures this morning. Flies are a problem around here. The restaurant provides a fly fan for the table which keeps them at bay. You can buy them on Amazon, and they work.

According to Wikipedia, “the Hangtown Fry was invented in Placerville, California, then known as Hangtown. According to most accounts, the dish was invented when a gold prospector struck it rich, headed to the Cary House Hotel, and demanded the most expensive dish that the kitchen could provide. The most expensive ingredients available were eggs, which were delicate and had to be carefully brought to the mining town; bacon, which was shipped from the East Coast; and oysters, which had to be brought on ice from San Francisco, over 100 miles away.”

The Seascape is located right at Trinidad Pier. There are two small beaches nearby and great views all around. Pictures tell the story. The seagulls (aka flying rats) let you walk right up to them. Lots of kelp in the water and on the beaches. Interesting car in the parking lot. The front license plate on the car says Virginia, but the couple in the car are from Fresno.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

Back home for a bit and then we decided to drive the four to five miles down Scenic Drive to take some more pictures. The road is horrific – one lane in places, loaded with potholes, dirt and gravel in other places. But there are three great places to stop for pictures.

Tepona Point

Tepona Point is my favorite spot. The light fog adds to the atmosphere of the pictures. They have done a lot of work on the trail and the platform since our last visit. Now the state needs to fix the road. The beach down below is Luffenholtz Beach. We didn’t go down to the beach. Two panoramas (click to enlarge) and one video. And lots of pictures.

Watch the video here.

Houda Point

At Houda Point you are just down the road a bit from Tepona Point. We met and chatted up a nice Canadian from Toronto.

Moonstone Beach

Moonstone Beach is another couple of miles down the road. Wolf tracks on the beach? Nah. Lots of dog walkers here. Some big (dead) clams. Here we actually walked on the beach.

We made one more stop at Clam Beach down the road a bit. Nice beach but not very photogenic. Then it was back home to enjoy the afternoon reading, lunching, napping, viewing, relaxing, and what all. Here’s a picture of Clam Beach.

Click on the galleries (and images) below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

We went to bed last night as the clouds rolled in

We awoke expecting the predicted rain. This is what we saw first.

But the weathermen weren’t totally wrong (again). We went for a long walk on Trinidad State Beach and about town a bit under threatening but dry skies. Lots of pictures including three panoramas. How many can you spot Elaine in? Interesting sandals on the beach. Interesting chairs on the hillside. Interesting driftwood. Interesting vegetation. One picture of just sand. See the seagull on the rock?

I could find Elaine in five pictures (including in two of the panoramas. Did I miss any?

Also, we saw a vulture on the beach gnawing away at a dead something or other. A seagull watched enviously nearby. I (unintentionally) scared the vulture away and the seagull took over eating.

Trinidad Lighthouse used to be up on the hill. Now it’s on a memorial stand down by the beach.

Above the beach nearer the Trinidad town center is a nice place to take some pictures. The first picture is where the lighthouse used to be. Some nice houses up up too. I took a picture of one. Lots of people lost or buried at sea. (Interestingly, Trinidad’s official population is about 320 people not counting us. It is one of California’s smallest incorporated cities,).

Now it was 10:45. We drove around a bit and then returned to the beach area for lunch at the Seascape Restaurant. Hidden Gem! We both had delicious clam chowder. Elaine had a 1/2 order of fish and chips. I had an open faced oyster sandwich along with two Mad River Brewery Steelhead Extra Pale Ales. The brewery is tribal owned. Are those gigantic oysters or what? They also have home-baked blackberry pie. I got a piece to go.

While we were eating the rains arrived in style. It poured for awhile so we headed home for a quiet afternoon. We’re delighted that two days that were supposed to be washouts actually turned out pretty good.

Oh, someone wanted pictures from inside the cottage. Voila! The first picture is from out on the deck looking in. That’s a loft above the downstairs living/dining room. And you can catch a glimpse of the gas fireplace. Oops, who left the toilet seat up? It’s small – one bedroom (plus the loft which has a bed) and one bath. Perfect for us.