Wanderers : California to Boise, Idaho

August 20th, our first night in California.

We had a room booked at the Lighthouse Inn, located in Crescent City, California. A nice size room with a love seat and table and chairs. Price was decent and we had a free breakfast.

This statue was right inside the
entrance and I always thought
someone was actually sitting there.

Lobby

Our Room

We walked to Schmidt's House of Jambalaya located in the Harbor District. It was a small restaurant and the food was good.

Fish & Chips

Jambalaya

Soon after leaving the restaurant, we heard this strange loud sound. We had to investigate. It was a sea lion colony all barking at the same time. Male sea lions can weigh 850 pounds and be 7 feet long. Females are usually 220 pounds and up to 6 feet long.

We drove to the Hiouchi Visitors Center. Our first stop so we could get our handy little Redwood National Park map.

I asked the nice young ranger what I should see and do. She said, "Well that depends on what you want to do." But she did give us her recommendations.

Our first trail 👣 of the day was the Hatton Loop. It was not one of the ranger's suggestions and the only thing we did that was not recommended. It was a cute little 0.3 mile loop.

The Ranger's first suggestion was Simpson Reed Grove Trail. 👣 You enter an ancient forest where 1,000-year-old redwoods form a towering canopy over a mixture of hardwood trees, shrubs, and ferns. An easy, short 0.8 mile, beautiful 👣 trail.

Coast redwoods are usually not harmed by forest fires because of their thick fibrous bark. Numerous fires can eventually weaken the bark, allowing fire to finally burn through to the innermost wood of the tree. This may cause the base of the tree to become hollow.

A nurse log is a fallen tree. As it decays it provides a stable and nutrient-rich home for seedlings. The tree growing here is a western hemlock. The roots of the hemlock wrap around the log in search of more food and water from the soil. It is often referred to as the octopus tree as the roots look like octopus tentacles.

Coast Redwoods tower over all other trees in the world. 🌎 Trees average 300 feet in height, with some over 360 feet. The Redwood's roots are shallow and only extend 6 to 10 feet into the ground. This makes them vulnerable to high winds and floods. However, their roots can spread hundreds of feet from the tree and join with neighboring trees to creating a web for extra support.

The trees were so large, it was amazing. Rob loves when I pose. Most of the time he is like, "What is that?" Cracks me up.

Next we took the Howland Hill Road Scenic Drive located in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park on the land of Tolowa Dee-ni'.

We stopped at Stout Memorial Grove. In 1929, Clara Stout donated the 44 acre grove to save it from being logged and to memorialize her husband, lumber baron Harry D. Stout. We did the Stout Grove Trail 👣 to the Spur Trail 👣 down to the Smith River.

The Grove of Titans was next on our list of recommendations. We took the Mill Creek Trail 👣. This was a really cool trail.

Back to our scenic drive!

We stopped to see the Battery Point Lighthouse. At breakfast we met Gruchot who gave us a few ideas, including the lighthouse. Gruchot was a intern at The University of Maryland Medical Center back in the 80's.

Dinner was put in the crockpot this morning: ground beef with onions and Rotel tomatoes. Tacos with lettuce, onions, our Tillamook cheese and salsa served on our finest China.

Monday August 22nd, the weather forecast said it was going to be cold 🥶 and drizzly, but it ended up being a pretty good day. We were able to spend time on the beach. Our first stop of the day was Point St. George where we walked along the beach.

Rob looking for agate stones!

We parked the car alongside the road and took two short trails to the water. Our second trail led right onto a beach where we met a retired Marine who was just sitting on the rocks looking for agate stones. He took the time to explain what to look for and how to tell if we found one. Rob sat down a few feet away from him, reaches down and picks up a large stone and asked the guy, "Is this agate?" His eyes lit up and said it was the biggest agate stone he's ever seen in the area. Talk about beginners luck!

He polishes the agate and makes 'trees' out of them to sell to tourists. We spent about an hour just talking to him. His wife passed away recently and his three daughters live elsewhere. As we were leaving, Rob handed the guy his 'big find'. The guy was thrilled and said his daughter's birthday was coming up and he was going to make a pendant out of it for her.

These pictures were from the first trail 👣 and Rob's agate treasures from the second trail. Rob is kicking himself for not getting a picture of his 'big find'.

We had lunch 😋 on Pebble Beach, there were no pebbles where we were.

We went to Crescent Beach Overlook and took the Coastal Trail to Enderts Beach. The trail was 1 1/4 mile round trip that was moderate, with 100-feet descent and equal ascent on return. We walked along the cliff edge and Rob was having no parts of it. I crossed the little path to the rock but Rob stayed where he was.

On our way back to see Crescent Beach we had a small traffic jam. Wildlife crossing the road.

Out on the town for Heather's (my daughter's) birthday celebration dinner. We were going to go to the Chart Room Restaurant but they were closed. They supposedly have the best clam chowder. We chose the Boathouse which was not what I wanted for the birthday celebration. The tables did have tablecloths but they were black and covered in plastic. The food turned out to be really good.

Yellowtail Sashimi

Seafood Combo
Dungeness crab, shrimp 🍤, steamer
clams, potatoes 🥔, corn-on-the-cob 🌽,
and broccoli 🥦

Happy birthday Heather! 🎊🎉🎈🎈🎈I hope you enjoyed your day.

Rob's morning started off at LabCorp for some blood work. He arrived for his early morning appointment and found out the lab technician was on vacation and there was no one else to draw his blood. He ended up going to the local hospital for his blood work. Life on the road...

We weren't sure what our plan was for the day. We were thinking of heading to Klamath to see more of the Redwoods. After talking to Gruchot, we decided on Eureka. Back on scenic route 101, our first stop was for the Yurok Loop Trail. This trail was 1 1/4 miles round trip, easy, moderately level surface.

We wanted to see the World War II Radar Station 🚉, so we took the Coastal Drive off of US101. It is only one way traffic on the unpaved section.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the US Army built radar stations to guard against potential invasions. They were disguised to look like farm buildings. The cinder block structures, complete with shingled roofs, and fake windows and dormers, housed an early warning radar station. This place was right up Mr. Top Secret Intelligence's alley.

These Banana Slugs were all along the trail, yuk.

Next we did the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. It is an alternate route to US 101 and passes through the heart of the old growth Redwood forest in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. We took the Prairie Creek Trail 👣 to the famous Corkscrew Tree 🌳. It was an easy 1.3 mile walk. The Corkscrew Tree is 3 redwood trunks spiraling around each other to 300 feet in height.

We took the Bald Hills Road, another scenic drive. We only took the road as far as Lady Bird Johnson Grove. This is one of the most popular trails in Redwood National Park.

Time to head to our hotel. We were staying at The Inn at 2nd and C. I decided to splurge and spend a little more money than I normally would have. I was so excited! Our room was on the 4th floor. They did have an elevator but I think it was just as old as the building. We only used it to take our luggage up and back down. The building is a Historic Eagle House Victorian (est. 1888)

Bed was super comfy!

Our view!

Upon check in I met Max and Geoffrey. Geoffrey checked me in and Max was his dog. Geoffrey was an interesting fellow. He worked at the hotel but said he was a chef. Geoffrey provided recommendations for dinner.

Eureka was an okay old little town. There were several restaurants and shops. The homelessness on the west coast just amazes me. It's so sad.

One of Geoffrey's recommendations was Five Eleven. The service was good, food delicious and they had a happy hour.

Hawaiian Butterfish Tataki
Kimchi, apple 🍎, ginger, sesame
slaw, and spicy ponzu

Baja Mahi Mahi Tacos 🌮
Cabbage, red onion 🌰, tomato 🍅,
cilantro, crazy white sauce

Roasted Beets
Roasted beets, avocado 🥑,
crushed almonds, spring mix,
goat 🐐 cheese, & buttermilk
vinaigrette

There was a common area on each floor of the hotel. There were games and puzzles so we spent an evening putting together a puzzle.

We walked the entire downtown area. We enjoyed Five Eleven so much we went back on Wednesday night.

Yellow Fin Carpaccio
fried capers, arugula, cured
olives, preserved lemon, Calabria
chili vinaigrette, Maldonado salt

Veal and House Ground Beef
Meatballs - polenta cake, meat sauce,
mozzarella, parmesan

We stopped in the hotel bar 🍸, Patsy Kline's for a drink and to try their 'popstachio'. Of course they did not have the popstachio. We were disappointed. 😞 It was an organic popcorn with glazed pistachios and smoked paprika.

A few more pictures of the hotel. On the nights Patsy Kline's is open, this area is dimly lit and very romantic.

My dislikes of this hotel were no refrigerator (had to obtain ice from the front desk). I would have liked to have a coffee maker ☕ in the room. We've gotten accustomed to coffee in bed in the morning. You had to go to the lobby for coffee ☕ 😒, but it was served in real coffee cups. We had no television. They do have rooms with tv's. Just not ours. My likes were the location, gorgeous room, awesome bed, friendly staff. I would stay here again.

We left Eureka and believe it or not headed back up to Oregon. We made a stop at the Rogue Creamery located on the Oregon Cheese Trail 👣 to get some really good blue cheese.

Have a Cheesy Day!

We arrived in Ashland, Oregon where we stayed at the Holiday Inn -- another free night. Dinner was at the El Paraiso Mexican Cuisine. There have been no shortages of Mexican restaurants.

Chile Relleno, Enchilada, & a Taco 🌮

Pollo Y Mole

After dinner relaxing in the hot 🔥 tub!

Time to move on and we headed for Crater Lake. Crater Lake National Park protects the deepest lake in the United States. Crater Lake is 1,943 feet deep. It is fed by rain and snow but no rivers or streams. Park Headquarters receives an average of 42 feet of snow each year. The lake is considered to be the cleanest large body of water in the world 🌎. The lake rests inside a caldera formed 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot tall Volcano 🌋 collapsed following a major eruption.

Crater Lake Lodge

Pictures from along Discovery Point Trail 👣.

We missed the sign going in, but I made him stop on the way out of the park. Crater Lake was absolutely beautiful. I am so glad we went out of our way to see the Lake.

On the way to our lodge for the night we stopped at a little Ma and Pa store because we wanted wine to drink by the lake. We really didn't think they would have wine as they were in the middle of nowhere. The young man behind the counter was so friendly, helpful and apologetic because he only had one kind of wine. The little shop had everything!

Relief Station Tip Jar

We had one night booked at The Lodge at Summer Lake. There was a restaurant on site which we were surprised filled up pretty quickly. Room was clean and spacious, food was good (not spectacular) and view amazing.

Hot Roast Beef Sandwich 🥪 with
smashed potatoes 🥔 and corn 🌽

Chef Salad

We did a lot of driving from Summer Lake (about 263 miles). There were not too many places to stop but the views we had were pretty amazing -- from flat to mountainous and we even had a few dust storms. We had lunch while driving 🚗 which was a small plate of our delicious cheese, crackers, dried fruit blend, and nuts.

August 27th -- hopefully we have made our last stop in Oregon. Another free night 🌙 at the Holiday Inn Express in Ontario, Oregon. The young lady checking me in said for being a platinum member we upgraded your room from a king standard to a king suite. YAY me!

The only difference between this room and the king standard that we had in Ashland is a sofa 🛋. Nice!

Our last Oregon sunset!

Our first stop was a car wash 🚗 before crossing into Idaho.

Welcome to Idaho!

We spent time at our niece, Andrea's place in Boise, ID. She has a cute two bedroom apartment in a nice complex. We planned our trip to Boise to coincide with Rob's sister, Wendy visiting Andrea.

Monday morning Andrea took Sampson (her dog) for a walk and we all went along. Of course, I was the last one up the hill. Sampson decided to take a swim so he needed a bath.