Up and Down A Lazy River

The sun quickly pushed the fog aside in Ferndale this morning, but lingered here and there in the Eureka area all day, coming and going as it pleased. After breakfast, we sailed our "land yacht upstream" to Eureka and spent a few hours wandering around the older part of the town near the waterfront.

Lazio's famous seafood emporium must have disappeared many moons ago. Dick found the building he thinks must have housed what was once the dining spot in Eureka. Likewise, the Eureka Inn stands as a memorial to elegant dining and lodging in this northcoast town, wearing a fresh coat of paint, but has been shuttered for the last 2-3 years.

In the afternoon, we headed back south towards Ferndale, stopping to do some birdwatching here and there along the southern edge of Humboldt Bay and the Eel River. We found Southport Landing, the B&B we had stayed out out in the countryside 10 years ago, but like the Eureka Inn (where we stayed on one of our first vacations back in 1972), it too has closed. (Our innkeeper in Ferndale tells me that the Southport folks opened a brewpub in Eureka, hit the jackpot with their beer, became multi-millionaires, and closed the B&B).

As the fog rolled back in across Humboldt Bay, we rolled back into Ferndale. Dick did a little wine tasting in the hotel lobby with some other folks from Marin, while Cindy ran off in search of something to quell her late afternoon "snack attack".

Tomorrow we head down Highway 101 for home Within an hour or two after leaving Ferndale, the fog will be long gone and we'll be driving in 80-100 degree temperatures. Lucky for us, the National Weather Service predicts that when we return to Marin it will only be 75 degrees plus.