Redwood Highway

I went to visit Mia Houlberg & help her sand & paint her new house in the Myrtletown neighborhood of Eureka California. As usual, I took the scenic route, going through Ashland , Medford & Grant's Pass, Oregon on my way from Oakland to Crescent City that first day. Here's a shot of a beach next to Crescent City Marina the next morning before I headed south towards Eureka.

The photos I shot while commuting to Benicia turned out so well I thought I'd shoot some while barreling down the Redwood Highway.

The Redwood Coast

At Trees of Mystery, the seams are starting to show around Babe the Blue Ox's neck, but Paul Bunyan's boots are kept in fine shape. Across the road is the coffeeshop, which features a breakfast special of eggs, bacon & Dutch apple pie. And no, I didn't.

Stopped for lunch at the restaurant at the base of the pier of Trinidad Harbor. It's to the left just out of the frame of first picture below. I had a nice bowl of clam chowder and some coffee that wasn't too bad. Right above the small rock next to the pier, the returning fishermen are cleaning fish and throwing the scraps to a half-dozen seals swimming below.

This photo's taken on the back side of that large large rock that sort of splits the view of the harbor in two. The whole scene reminds me of where many of my dad's relatives live, in Mid-Coast Maine.

At the mouth of the Klamath River, just a hundred yards south of the scene below, is the Yurok tribal ceremonial ground. I didn't feel like taking pictures of that specifically.

At Mia's House in Eureka

While waiting for Mia to get off work, I farted around Eureka & found some guard geese patrolling what might be some sort of artists' complex in Old Town, across from Accident Gallery, a Mexican restaurant & an Irish pub.

Finally I went to see Mia. I took this photo as I pulled up in my car. The house looked kind of small & depressing at first & I was thinking uh-oh did Mia make a mistake buying it? But inside it is really sweet & cheerful, with large well-proportioned living room & kitchen, & two smaller but also cheerful bedrooms. Lots of light everywhere. A really nice house to be in. All redwood exterior siding. A two-story garage that used to be a pot farm & meth lab. Huge backyard.

The whole place needs & is getting fixing up. I scraped & sanded for two days. Mia's spackling & caulking. The goal is to get the exterior at least primed & water-tight for the coming rainy winter. While I was there, Mike Fadeff was finishing up the mudding & taping of the new sheetrock in the living room & kitchen.

Since I was scraping & sanding for free, I let Mia take me out for Mexican food. I introduced her to my guard-geese friends on the way to dinner.

Next day Mia & Mike & I roamed around getting bagels & coffee & having adventures. Mia & I convinced Mike to mimic the pose of the statue which is, I think, associated with a marble plinth carved with the names of all the Eureka fishermen lost at sea.

I had a really nice time visiting Mia & meeting Mike, but next day I had to head home.

A couple more LA area photos