Christian Kemp's USA travelogs

< Previous | List | Next > Escaping Shasta-Trinity's bad weather, to Eureka on Highway 101

We woke up to terrible weather - grey sky; damp, wet air; and rain. Whiskeytown Lake looked grey and dull, and the weather didn't seem likely to improve anytime soon, so rather than spend more time in the Shasta-Trinity area, we quickly retreated to the warm comfort of a moving car, and headed West towards the coast.

We stopped once or twice along the way, and I remarked how this would be a nice area to do cross-country hikes - an idea that isn't really feasible given my need for a job to pay the bills, and the time restrictions on tourist VISA waivers.

We arrived at Eureka, CA and were lucky enough to "only" get cloudy skies, but no more rain. We walked through town, and it was odd to see nicely restored houses on one hand, and boarded-up depots and shacks on the other, and both seemingly co-existing. In some way, I cared more about the latter, because the nicely restored houses mostly seemed to cater for a rich tourist clientele, whereas the latter had a more genuine appearance, and probably would tell the more interesting stories, if they could.

Since we still had some daylight hours, we headed South on 101, around Humboldt Bay, and to the Pacific Ocean, before heading back to Eureka for dinner, a movie (not sure in which order) and a good night's rest at another entirely unremarkable hotel. (I seem to remember a Motel6, but am not sure.)

Motel/Hotel Accommodation: ():

Written August 5th 2004