We woke to glorious sunshine and it lasted all day. The plan today was to visit Eureka, just 20 miles or so south of Trinidad. Our previous sole contact with Eureka is driving through it on the way to Trinidad and stopping at the Trinidad Costco Eureka (population: 27,000), for your information, is the largest coastal city between San Francisco and Portland, Oregon and the westernmost city of more than 25,000 residents in the 48 contiguous states. Our modest plan was to visit its zoo and its historic old town and to have lunch.
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures.
The Sequoia Park Zoo
The Sequoia Park Zoo is small and its most noted feature is not animals. It has the Redwood Sky Walk through a redwood grove. Remember, we are in redwood country. (Aside: we saw absolutely no sign of fires in our drive from Scottsdale to Bakersfield to Santa Rosa to Trinidad.) The skywalk is exceptionally well done and we enjoyed it. Of course, we also saw animals. No lions, tigers, or elephants here. Bears are coming to a new enclosure being built. Our favorite were the red pandas which we saw being fed. The eagles were impressive as was the scarlet ibis. So here are pictures of the skywalk and our stroll through the animal enclosures. It’s a fun zoo!
The Sky Walk
The Animals
Eureka Old Town
Old town is interesting. Obviously regentrified, it is filled with old Victorian buildings, the most impressive of which is the Carson Mansion. It has been reborn as a private club. You can’t go in (too bad, for it must be filled with interesting nooks and crannies), but it is certainly impressive from the outside. Another restored structure is the Pinc Lady. And there is a yellow building that is now a large B&B. You’ll be able to easily pick these three out by the colors in the galleries below. There are also some colorful murals and old commercial buildings including the old theater and a bank. We had a good walk around and then adjourned for lunch within Old Town at the . . .
The Lost Coast Brewing Company
The Lost Coast Brewing Company specializes in burgers and, of course, beer. Since we have a big dinner planned tonight, we wanted something less. Elaine had a bowl of New England clam chowder and a Lost Coast IPA. I had a (too big!) Caesar salad and a Revenant IPA. Good lunch!
Then it was home for naps and ocean watching. We have seen a couple of large grey whales, lots of seals and/or sea lions, and plenty of birds. Elaine also saw a guy swimming alone out in the middle of the bay. Weird. No boat near him. We’re not sure where he came from, but he did make it back to shore, a long swim. We had the odd cocktail on the sun shiney deck before getting ready for dinner.
The Larupin’ Cafe
The Larupin’ Cafe is certainly eclectic. And busy! We had a great meal. They provide a gratis house appetizer platter – home made bread, two cheeses, chicken pâté, a mustard, and salmon on cucumber. I added four delicious oysters to the mix. For mains, Elaine had STUFFED BELL PEPPER & PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM – feta and herb stuffed bell pepper served over a large portobello mushroom then finished with braising greens and pine nuts – along with house salad and sweet potato. I had scrumptious LAMB CHOPS – Kosher, Australian lamb drizzled with port wine, balsamic & fig reduction – with house salad and a twice baked potato. For dessert Elaine had a lemon tart, more like a cheesecake, and I had crème brûlée. We cross tasted. The wine was a 2014 Manzoni pinot noir. Great meal.
And then it was home to bed under the most star filled sky I have seen in many years. I wish you could take a pictures of the stars. All in all, a perfect day!
Wow. Have you guys seen the TV show The Craftsman on Magnolia Network? It’s a show featuring an old-time true craftsman (Eric Hollenbeck) who lives and works in Eureka CA. He has done restorations on the Carson Mansion, the Pinc Lady and the Redwood Capital Bank. During the show, we have been inside those buildings while he was doing the restorations. Amazing. Such a coincidence.
The Sky Walk at the zoo is fabulous. Elaine, it looks like the burls (?) on that tree are going to eat you! And what interesting animals and birds.
Dinner at the Larupin Cafe sounds scrumptious. I want what Elaine had. And the gratis appetizer platter. Yum.
Never heard of Magnolia Network. We’ll look for it when we get home.
Great coincidence though.
The whole day looked awesome!! Amazing redwood walk!! But the food looks outstanding!!
Magnificent, I want to go! Always wanted to visit Eureka, it’s just kind of in the middle of nowhere, but maybe if we can get to Crater Lake one day.
Lovely pix. Headed home fromOhio tomorrow morning (kate was wonderful in A Little Night Music).
Hugs to you both.
Travel safe.
Magnolia Network used to be DIY Network.
You had an amazing day exploring. The redwoods and the zoo were quite a find. As usual you continue to find great restaurants wherever you are located. Stay safe XO
That looks like an action packed day! I’d like to plan a lazy north of SF coastal California and Oregon road trip the next time Sharon has her energy efficient economy conference in a couple years. It’s just that the conference is in August and seasonally still very prone to lots of fog until noon and sometimes later. You are smart to go in September. That lamb dish you had is making me want to take a crack at replicating it in our kitchen soon. Eureka looks pretty sweet!
We are sticking closer to home since the Sunday of Labor Day weekend when a driver of an Audi sedan in Sudbury made a left turn in front of my lane of travel colliding with my motorcycle sending me to the Lahey Trauma Center with broken ribs and broken right clavicle. Clavicle is expected to heal without surgery. Nothing to be done about ribs except heal over time. This could have ended so much worse. A full recovery is expected. Our neighbors swooped in providing meals, grocery store trips, rides to doctors office, and even cut our lawn! Done riding motorcycles…Period!
Yikes! Stay off that bike!