Well . . . . .
Sunday night after dinner at home we watched some football and went to bed. There was no rain and light wind. As we slept the storm arrived, mostly in the form of wind. At 2:20 am the power went off. We might not have noticed, but it caused the security system in the house to start beeping madly. (Elaine heard it – I kept on sleeping until she woke me.) I finally managed to get it to shut off, and we went back to sleep. The power came back on at 4:30 am. I left a light turned on and it woke me when it came on. Kudos to RCEA (Redwood Coast Energy Authority). When we got up at about 7:30, the heavy rains started. It continued all day. Supposedly the rain will continue into tomorrow and then we will see some sun on Wednesday onward. In any case, for Monday we are hunkered down.
Since sightseeing is out of the question in this weather, we decided to drive into Eureka to the closest Costco (20 miles). So much for hunkered down. Alas, in messing with the security system to shut off the beeping earlier, I somehow armed it. When we went out the front door, the alarm sounded – very loudly! And I don’t have the alarm code. Visions of police and fire arriving with sirens blaring passed through my mind. A quick call to the property manager got me the alarm code and instructions how to unarm the system. Fun, fun, fun. Problem solved.
Since we going out anyway, we decided to try the little Kebab Cafe in Arcata, midway between Trinidad and Eureka. The owner, raised in London after his family emigrated there from Cyprus, came to the US with his English wife in 1997. They opened Kebab Cafe, unpresuming and small and located in a strip mall, in 1977. The food is delicious. I had a delicious gyro pita sandwich and Elaine had a favorite of hers, the falafel sandwich. It was so good, in fact, we may go back for another lunch this week.
The horrible weather continued until, magically, we saw patches of blue sky and signs of a sun as darkness approached.
After indoor cocktails in front of a fire in the fireplace, dinner, courtesy of Chef Elaine, was pulled pork with barbeque sauce and veggies and Costco French bread (and, needless to say, a nice wine).
The weather for last night and today was perhaps the worst we have ever had on vacation, but it was a bit of an adventure. Tomorrow is another day.
May the Force be with you. Let the fun continue!
What a nice place to have to hunker down. What with great views of the storm and the ocean and with a fire in the fireplace. May the sun shine soon.
I like days like you had on Monday. I causes you to stop, rest, think of beauty differently. You have all you need, each other, wonderful scenery, a fire and food. Oh, don’t forget books. So you can slow down even more and enjoy mother nature and its quirkiness. The little cafe sounds wonderful!
Stay safe out there. That atmospheric river is something else, been watching it on Weather Channel. Is this the same place in Trinidad as the last time, looks very comfy, and what a view, similar to Depoe, just lovely.
Same place as last year.