Day Three

Day Three aka last day of road trip. It was pouring wet when we left the hotel. We were in no hurry to go home just yet. We have a few other stops to take before hitting the road heading home.

I've been thinking about seeing the thriving mural scene in Eureka. They actually have a map of the murals, but it was raining and so we just drove around to see them and shoot at a few of them.



Then we took Highway 101 south bound for San Francisco, although we have two more stops along the way. The first one is the Victorian town of Ferndale. Funny, but this is supposed to be where I'd indulge in Victorian architecture. I didn't realize that Eureka itself has enough Victorian houses to satisfy me. Anyway, we still allotted time for a stop here. I was very curious.


More pretty houses.





Ferndale's Main street has well preserved Victorian-era buildings. It's like being transported to the old days, if you ignore the cars.



















And here's this pretty little house that is getting a fresh coat of paint.


Next door neighbor to Ferndale is the small town of Loleta, home to Loleta Cheese Factory. This is the last stop on this road trip.


We sampled many cheese, bought two kinds, and enjoyed the beautiful courtyard garden they have in the back.


The road back to San Francisco is scenic.

What was supposed to be a road trip focusing on redwood trees and nature walks turned into a trip ogling Victorian houses. How did that happen? I didn't see that coming, but I was happy with how it turned out. In fact, this was an eye-opener for me. Eureka and Humboldt County can give San Francisco a run for its money when it comes to pretty little old Victorian houses.

*****This blog is taking a short break. I'm running out of material for this blog and it's high time to remedy that situation and at the same time visit with family and friends. I'm also excited to have my first meet-up with a fellow blogger that I only meet thru blogging. See you all in a month. *****

Details and Old Town

Victorian house is any house that was built during the reign of Queen Victoria in England from June 20, 1837 to January 22, 1901. These houses come in many different styles, including but not limited to Queen Anne, Italianate, Gothic Revival, etc. Although these houses have different styles, they share the same detailed architectural feature.

I was wowed by the incredible labor-intensive and spectacularly gorgeous details.





A dormer is a window that sticks out of the roof and has a roof of its own.

A turret is a skinny tower usually at the corner of the building.




Well made. Nothing seems to be left undone.




Do you see the blonde Rapunzel's hair hanging out of the attic? She must be drying her hair again. Kidding aside, I am perplexed at the hair like object hanging out of what I presume to be attic.








Isn't too pretty?








I'm a sucker for fish scale shingles.


Then the locals got suspicious. One look at him and I read the writings on the wall. My time in this neighborhood is up.

So off to the old town we went. After all I seem to have snapped enough photos, don't you think.

The Old Town is like any other old towns you'll find in this great country. It's a place to shop and dine. Eureka's Old Town is by the waterfront, but still very overcast. It was drizzling a bit when we pulled up for street parking.

We were killing time, before dinner. Heck before Happy Hour. We walked around, poked our heads in some stores, photographed everything, went inside the bookstore and grabbed a pint. Here:


A stop at the Irish pub after all one has to whet his whistle first.


The pub is housed on the ground floor while the upper floors are used as Inn.


More restored Victorian houses.













Day 2 ended with a dinner at a buffet. I know why buffet, right? Well there were four of us with different tastes and the buffet is a happy medium.

....to be continued....

Dream Homes

We left Trinidad when the rain started to come down and drove back to Eureka. We had no set itinerary as I mentioned before and we did everything on the fly. This was another spontaneous part of the road trip.

As we researched this destination prior to the trip, we discovered that Eureka is full of lovely old Victorian homes that were once owned by wealthy people in the lumber industry. As you can imagine in the old days prior to conservation, this region with vast land areas of redwood trees would be the perfect place for lumber industry.

Furthermore, you can download a self tour of these houses. Kudos to hubby for arranging that. I knew that there were plenty of houses to see, but did not have the foresight to look up any DIY tours. Thankfully I have my husband to correct that mistake on my part.

And so when we reached Eureka, it was still too early for dinner or for that matter even happy hour. We pulled over to decide what we wanted to do next and to change drivers. Our friend R was driving from Trinidad back to Eureka. Hubs took over the driver's seat and asked me pull out his folder and inside was a print out of the route for the old Victorian homes. I think it was termed Heritage tour or something. In addition, we were just a block away from it, so we drove slowly, this is a residential area and there hardly was any other cars on the road. It is also a week day so people must have all been at work. Good for us.


Historic Eureka Inn.

Now an inn.

Methinks this one is about to get a slap of fresh coat, see it?

Purple pleasure.

Noted the ongoing cosmetic changes.

Two main doors, a duplex?

A little charmer, for sale?

More typically seen in the Bay Area also.

Charming lilac lady.

Another beauty.

A grand ole lady she is.

Badly needs work done.

Almost a wash out with the gloomy rainy skies.

Just gorgeous.

.....to be continued....