Spent a second day in Eureka running a few errands: Needed to replace my rain pants as I'd worn mine out (They were hold-outs from my motorcycle-riding days.), needed to pick up a camp stove as my little handmade penny stove wasn't cutting it (purchased the MSR Pocket Rocket), and wanted to get a Verizon phone as my AT&T contract had finally expired and AT&T coverage is poor out here.
Saturday the 4th, newly rain-trousered, camp-stove-equipped and wirelessly-reconnected, I left Eureka for Redcrest.
Beautiful weather! Passed through the itsy-bitsy town of Loleta and stopped at the Loleta Bakery for coffee:
This is downtown Loleta:
The town was built around the big cheese factory, which closed down when a newer facility was built a few miles away. Here's the former factory:
Just south of Loleta, came across these archetypal toadstools (6-7" diameter):
Mid-afternoon, rode through Scotia, a company town, owned by Pacific Lumber Company. Interesting architecture. (Unfinished timber...fitting.) This is the Scotia Museum:
The town movie theater:
The elegant Scotia Inn:
And the lumber mill:
After an exceedingly awe-inspiring late afternoon ride on the Avenue of the Giants (US 254), arrived at the Redcrest Resort. By the way, if you haven't been there, I highly recommend visiting the Redwood forests and Avenue of the Giants. This has to be one of the most beautiful places in the U.S. Particularly nice this time of year since there're hardly any other tourists around. (Apparently it gets completely crazy in the summer with the invasion of the motorhome/RV/camper-driving tourists.) For a superb vacation package, combine the Redwoods with the S. Oregon/N. California coast. I should be a travel agent, right?
Along the Avenue of the Giants, the town of Redcrest is hardly even a town but the Redcrest Resort is a nice little group of cabins in the woods. Mine was cabin #9:
Across the street was the Redcrest Grocery:
Sunday the 5th, leaving Redcrest, the weather was beautiful. Stopped in Miranda for a break and watched a local enjoying his Model T:
He drove past a number of times, occasionally sounding his Ah-oo-ga horn:
Right after I took these photos a light rain started. A few miles up the road in Phillipsville I had to risk getting the camera wet to photograph Hobbiton, USA, a kitschy low-budget theme park now closed and being reclaimed by nature:
Supposedly the park featured sculptures and dioramas depicting key scenes from The Hobbit. From the entrance a few Hobbit-hole entrances are visible, one (Bag End?) with Gandalf next to it:
Did a Google search and found a photo of what the sign looked like in its glory days:
Tonight am in Garberville at the Garberville Motel. Tomorrow will involve some brutal climbing.
No comments:
Post a Comment