Oregon & California: Day 4

On day 4 of our trip (Sunday April 5) Jordan got up early to walk around Crescent City & take pictures.  Steve & Rusty were out late the night before.  We had breakfast at Denny's.

Crescent City, CA

We continued down US Route 101 for about 15 minutes until we decided to stop at the lovely beach at False Klamath Cove in the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.  After about 30 minutes on the beach, Rusty needed to find a restroom.  He left Jordan & Steve on the beach for nearly an hour before he returned.  He had gone back to Crescent City, when he might have continued a short distance south to Klamath.  Steve was quite worried.

False Klamath Cove, Smith Creek

The next stop was Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  We diverted from US 101 to the Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway, which ran along Prairie Creek through a large redwood forest.  We stopped for a short hike on the Little Creek Trail, then a much longer hike on the Cathedral Trees Trail.  We saw many large redwoods & other forest plants.  Many of the understory plants also grow in Washington.

Little Creek Trail, Redwood Sorrel (Oxalis oregana)

 Jordan & Rusty

Prairie Creek

Cathedral Trees Trail, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Trillium (our favorite flower).

We had a nice lunch at the Big Blue Cafe in Arcata.  It was located on Arcata Plaza, a town square surrounded by many shops & restaurants.  Some of the buildings dated back 100 years or more.

Arcata Plaza

Arcata, CA

We continued south on US 101 to Humboldt Redwoods State Park, where we diverted to the Avenue of the Giants.  This was an older section of the US 101 that had been rebuilt a short distance away.  It was dark & narrow with huge redwoods growing right up against the asphalt.  We stopped at Founder's Grove.  It was so densely shaded that very little grew in the understory, mostly just redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana) which also grows in Washington, although in a different form.  It was impossible to take pictures late in the afternoon with such low light.  We felt satisfied that we had seen enough redwoods. 

We returned to Eureka, checked into our hotel & had dinner at Marie Calendar's right next door.  We did not tour the city, but walked a short distance to a small park where the Elk River entered Humboldt Bay.  It was pretty there.

Here are more photos from Oregon & California. 

Oregon & California: Day 3

On the morning of day 3 (Saturday, April 3) it was cool & misty.  We had breakfast in Coos Bay at a restaurant that had once been Denny's.  The food was more real under the new ownership.  Rusty found that he had to work that morning.  Jordan & Steve left him at McDonald's, where the internet connection was not very good (he later moved to Burger King) & drove off to the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, a part of Coos Bay.  They hiked down a ravine with a creek, to a boardwalk over mud flats filled with skunk cabbage & grass, on the shore of the slough.  It was beautiful.  They left Rusty waiting at least an hour after he was done with Burger King.

The Edgewater Inn in Coos Bay, OR

Steve on the trail to South Slough.

Creek in the ravine along the trail.

Skunk cabbage along the boardwalk at South Slough.

 

South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve

After Rusty was retrieved, we drove on down the coast toward California.  We stopped at an overlook just north of Brookings, OR.  The coast was spectacular, once again.  We had lunch at a Chinese & American restaurant called Onion Grill Steak & Seafood.  We had pot stickers, egg foo yung & chow mein.  Yum yum!

 

The coast north of Brookings, OR.

Soon we entered California, bypassed Crescent City & drove through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.  We drove a short way down a narrow dirt road filled with potholes, parked beside the road & hiked a half a mile along the River Trail (Smith River) to Stout Grove.  The redwoods were huge, an impressive first encounter. 

River Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Creek flowing into the Smith River along the River Trail.

Trillium, our favorite flower, on the River Trail.

Steve & Rusty in Stout Grove.

Stout Grove redwoods with sword ferns.

We made our way to Crescent City & checked into the Penny Saver Inn.  The desk clerk advised us to go the Chart Room at the marina for dinner.  The setting was lovely, the restaurant was charming, but the food was not very good.  Sea lions were sleeping on the sidewalk at the edge of the parking lot, next to the marina.  They were huge.  We spent some time touring Crescent City in the twilight.  Rusty & Steve walked from the motel to the cinema, where they saw Captain America. 

Sea lions at the Crescent City, CA marina.

Here are more photos from Oregon & California. 

 

Oregon & California: Days 1 & 2

We traveled to Oregon & California from April 3 to April 10, 2014.  We parted on April 7.  Jordan spent 6 more nights in California, while Rusty & Steve returned to Oregon for 4 more nights.  Day 1 was spent driving from Seattle to Lincoln City, OR.  We drove down I-5 to Kelso, where we first reached the Columbia River.  We drove west from Kelso along the north bank of the river.  It was a beautiful drive.  

By the time we crossed the Columbia River at Astoria, it had begun to rain.  We had lunch in Astoria.  We stopped at an outlet mall, where we shopped at Eddie Bauer.  Steve bought a red jacket, which he wore for the rest of the trip.  We made a driving tour of Cannon Beach.  But it was too wet & windy to walk outside, or take pictures.  After a long day, we arrived in Lincoln City.  We had an excellent dinner at the Blackfish Cafe.

The Sandcastle, our motel on the beach in Lincoln City.

Rusty & Steve on the beach in front of our motel.

On the morning of Day 2, we awoke to a partially sunny sky & no rain.  We proceeded joyfully down the Oregon coast.  We stopped at Devil's Punchbowl State Natural Area.  The tide was low, so there was very little wave action in the punchbowl.  But the views of the coast were spectacular.  We had breakfast at Pig 'N Pancake in Newport.  It was not very good.  We visited the nearby Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area.  That truly was outstanding, one of the best experiences of our travels.  We looking in tide pools at Cobble Beach & saw harbor seals resting on the rocky islets.  Next we toured the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, near the Yaquina Bay Bridge.

View from Devil's Punchbowl State Natural Area

Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area

Tide pool at Cobble Beach

Jordan & Rusty at Yaquina Head

Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport, OR

We continued south on the Oregon Coast Highway (US 101) to Waldport, where we had lunch at Grand Central Pizza.  We did not have pizza, but fish sandwiches. We stopped at the Cape Perpetua Special Interest Area, where we saw Devil's Churn & the Spouting Horn.  We were able to walk down a steep path & stairway to Devil's Churn.  That was very interesting.  We saw the Spouting Horn from an overlook.  Jordan was lucky to get a picture of the spout, which was tricky.

Devil's Churn at Cape Perpetua, from above.

Devil's Churn

Rusty at Devil's Churn

Steve at Devil's Churn

Spouting Horn at Cape Perpetua

Our next stop was Heceta Head.  There was a beautiful beach & a path up through the forest to the light keeper's house & then to the light above that.  It had become quite cloudy by that time & there was a light, misty rain at times.

The beach at Heceta Head, with the light keeper's house above.

The view from Heceta Head Light

Heceta Head Light

We stopped to see cobra lilies (Darlingtonia californica) in a bog at Darlingtonia State Natural Site.  It was very near the highway & a short distance on a path & boardwalk.  Cobra lilies are carnivorous plants. We had hoped to walk among the dunes at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.  But it was raining by the time we got there.  We saw them from the parking lot, a quick stop with nice views of the dunes.

Cobra lilies (Darlingtonia californica)

Oregon Dunes

And then we finally made it to our motel in Coos Bay, OR.  We had dinner at a Thai restaurant called EZ Thai.  Downtown Coos Bay was very lively on a Friday night.  It was the largest town we had seen since we left Astoria, the day before.  The Oregon coast is thinly populated.

Here are more photos from Oregon & California. 

March Flowers

Crocus sieberi

Tulipa turkestanica

Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy' 

Luzula sylvatica 'Aurea'

Mahonia repens

Narcissus 'King Alfred'

Narcissus tazetta 'Minnow'

Trillium ovatum

These were the flowers in the Ell Alley Garden in March.  The month had record rainfall at 9.44 inches.  The previous record had stood since 1950 at 8.40 inches.  Normal rainfall in March is 3.72 inches.  March was also warmer than normal.