We took a week off—oh, how long did we have to wait for it—and decided to go north of California, towards Eureka, and then decide what we wanted to do. So off we went in our new shiny green Chevrolet Aveo, a wonderful little car, good looking and great mileage.
From Petaluma to Eureka it took us about 5 hours—rather long drive but we were in no hurry and the road gets winding in places. There is a beautiful redwood forest, probably the last area left, really thick with trees. We didn’t take the scenic highway known as the “avenue of giants” but we will next time.
We reached Eureka when it was getting dark. It was our second visit to Eureka but we didn’t spend much time there. We stopped at Motel 6 and were lucky to get one of the last rooms available: the lobby was really crowded. Who would have thought? Tourists in Eureka? On the other hand it’s not so odd: people travel in the high summer season and what would be the most probable stop for the travelers from Oregon? We wandered about the old town a little bit: it has an old downtown area, some quaint building but the general atmosphere was that the town was failing. They did built a shopping center but it was rather empty compared to big cities. It had a lumber mill and a small bay but strangely enough Eureka never developed as a port.
We had a slice of pie in Eureka and it was good.
The next day we drove to the northernmost town in California: Smith River. It turned out to be an Indian reservation or something of that sort. Anyway, there is not much to see or to do there for a traveler, but we found a state park nearby—Jedediah Smith State Park, named after one of the early explorers. We strolled in the redwood forest after having courageously crossed raging brook or two over the flimsy “summer” bridge and fighting off a pack of ravenous wolves with sticks. Just kidding… They were temporary bridges that the park staff sets out just for the summer visitors. Lots of the trails are closed in the winter season because there is a lot more water in the rivers and streams.
After that adventure we decided to head off for Oregon and Oregon is another state. It’s not so different from California. One thing that is different is that the gas station attendant grabs your card and fills your gas tank for you, meaning: when you are about to do it yourself, like we do in California, they grab your card and stick the nozzle in. Big deal. Maybe they try to lower the unemployment rate that way, who knows.
At night we had another Motel 6 experience. Another big crowd waiting in the lobby but again we managed to get one of the last rooms. And in the morning we went off to visit one of the sights Oregon is famous for called the “Oregon Vortex”.
Now, the Oregon Vortex, strangely enough, really exists. It’s not just optical illusions. I think the phenomena have something to do with magnetic anomalies. If you ever saw the photos they take at the place, you would see people standing on opposite sides of a board, and when they switch places they seem to be of different heights. Well, it really is so. The trouble is, you cannot measure it objectively because the measuring tools are changing too. Some investigators captured the phenomenon on the photograph with still camera so this is a kind of objective proof. Anyway, even the tour guide was not sure what it was all about or at least she did not tell us.
There is an old cabin almost right in the center of this area (vortex). It is so crooked and lopsided that it would make excellent paraphernalia for some movie. Inside you can see a plumb bob and it looks like it is hanging crooked. It turns out everything (and everybody) in this house leans 30° or something in a certain direction so you just can’t stand straight there. It has nothing to do with your willpower: the physical body simply does that—the change is not big enough to make you feel different or uncomfortable but it is noticeable enough for you or others to see. Other things to see are balls rolling down on a seemingly upward slope, but that was more in the category of optical illusion. Unfortunately they don’t let you stay long in the cabin, in fact their biggest thing is the changing height boards, they show you this weird effect like 3 times but don’t spend much time with these optical illusions which I think are truly amazing: even though the board looks like it is sloping 45 degrees up—the ball still rolls down.
By the way, according to the tour guide, the animals don’t like to be in the vortex. Even that cabin, which was originally built as an inspection station to weigh gold had to be turned into a regular office because the weights and measurement taken there were different from “normal”.
Back in California, another excellent park that we took a hike in was Burney Falls. The area has a beautiful waterfall that is an unusual sight. I’ve never seen a real waterfall before. There is a curved “rainbow” bridge over the river below the fall and in the river you can fish for trout. We haven’t done any fishing in California because in order to fish you have to buy a fishing license and there are lots of rules about the bait, type of hook to use, etc., and also restrictions on the amount of fish you are allowed to catch. Some places are “catch and release only” meaning you can catch but you cannot eat as you have to put the fish back into the water. Some folks do it as a kind of sport and don’t intend to eat the fish anyway. The hiking trails there are so pleasant: you walk under the trees beside the brook—mainly big Douglas Firs but also some deciduous trees—no redwoods because Burney is too far from the sea fog which those big trees must have.
The next day we drove through Lassen National Park. On the way there we stopped at a little country café and had breakfast: eggs and toasts. The cook was a big fat guy and so were the three customers sitting in a corner, eating huge portions and drinking bear. On the way to Lassen we passed a road construction site: the place where they had only one way traffic direction which they changed every 20 minutes with “follow me” truck.
The Lassen Park has a nice entry area with a spacious gift shop. Then there are numerous tracks for hiking and campgrounds. We didn’t climb Lassen Peak that day: the place was far too crowded but we did take a hike to one of the sites with a sulfur pool, Bumper’s Hell, I think it was call and did the place stink! Absolutely killed any appetite if you were hungry like we were. But we survived that journey and even managed to have a little snack when out of the stench zone. The place did not only smell but also roared like a freeway. It was not much joy. I can only guess what Hell’s kitchen is like.
Lassen Park did not impress me much. It has far too many people there and not enough forest areas and lakes. It’s okay for camping. The other entrance where Lassen Castle used to be was under construction.
After Lassen we drove to Red Bluff: a hot and very ordinary town and spent a night there. Before that we stopped at Mill Creek where Tom used to live many years ago. The most amazing thing there was that the owner of the place recognized him without even having had a look at him, just by his voice. It was a brief meeting, felt like a meeting of friends who parted just recently.
Anyway, back to Red Bluff, unremarkable little town. There is really not much to say about it. After we left there we drove through some desolate territory, flat fields and straight freeway. That part of the trip was fast.
Back to Sonoma county: crowded and congested traffic, roads are jammed with cars. Napa was repulsive. It was a relief to finally come back to Petaluma.
Soon we are planning to take a long trip to desert states of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, possibly even Utah to see some famous national monuments and archaeological sites. Those are places rich in history that dates back to Native American Indians times. It’s going to be a fabulous journey.
June 2007