Elk Prairie | Hiouchi RV Resort

Friday – 5 May 2000: Happy Cinco de Mayo! DT and I are near Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, just outside Crescent City, California. Yesterday we left Benbow and drove north on 101. We took a side road to spend a few hours in Ferndale - the entire village has been designated a State Historical Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Everything is Victorian and just adorable! We left our barking Beagle in the motor home and walked down the main street of Ferndale. High school kids were hanging outside the drug store - chomping hot dogs and discussing homework on their lunch hour, the rhododendrons were in full bloom, the sun was shining and it was quite pleasant strolling through town. Ferndale is host to the strangest annual race - The Kinetic Sculpture Race: people-powered sculptures must cross-land, sand and water to travel from Arcata to the finish line in Ferndale. You cannot imagine the apparatus accumulated in the museum! We had lunch at a little Mexican restaurant where we were the only customers… hmmm... we could not figure out if it was a slow day, or if we were late for the lunch crowd... but the cantina had a very interesting menu, including Pepsi and Coke imported from Mexico, Sangrita, Chile Rellano Burritos, several Moles and Menudo... pretty complicated for such a small town. Delicious lunch, by the way. Since we had walked through the entire town, we decided to walk a back street to Goldie and stumbled across a 150+ year-old church FOR SALE, the town cemetery built into a steep hillside (prudent settlers did not want to waste good, flat, dairy land on coffins) and rhododendrons over 20 feet tall, totally covered in brilliant pink blossoms. I have no idea what the residents of Ferndale feed their rhoddies, but I have never in my life seen such blossoms! Of course, if I had my camera, you could have enjoyed the sight...

We walked the sniveling dawg and hit the road, through beautiful cliff-side scenery along the Pacific, to one of our favorite places - Elk Prairie. We have camped at Elk Prairie twice before. (Side note: The first time, Lisa was about 10 years old and we were camping in our VW pop-top. We had set up camp and DT had gone for a run. Lisa and I were reading in the VW, when Lisa said, very quietly, "Mom..." and I looked up to see over 100 Roosevelt Elk walking through our campsite! They came out of the forest, nearly silent, and walked to the prairie - thus, "Elk Prairie" - and bedded-down for the night. It is still an amazing memory.) Guess what? Just a mile from Elk Prairie - we found a herd of Roosevelt Elk!

Roosevelt Elk herd in the Redwoods

We drove through Crescent City, California, and headed up Highway 199 towards Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and found a nice campground adjacent to the State Park. We are camped at the Hiouchi RV Resort in Hiouchi, California and have enjoyed it so much; we have stayed here for two nights and don't want to leave tomorrow. We have found a great campground, have befriended our neighbors and the weather has cooperated. The campground owners think they need Snickers to stay with them to chase away the local rose-eating deer (he is most excellent at keeping deer away) and though I was terribly tempted... I declined their request. Today, DT and I took a drive to Oregon - 17 miles - along 101 and then returned to Hiouchi via back roads, along the coast through Smith River ("Easter Lily Capital of the World" - and apparently Gateway to Nowhere) to the Lake Earl National Wildlife Refuge. We saw several birds, including American Kestrels (previously known as the Sparrow Hawk), gulls, ravens, pelicans and cormorants. We also saw more sea lions on the many rocks off the coast and watched seals play in the bays. Off the refuge, DT chatted with several fishermen. On the beach they were fishing for perch; in the bays they were fishing for herring to use for salmon bait. We ended up South of Crescent City, at a very famous tourist trap and couldn't resist snapping a photo of Paul and Babe at the "Trees of Mystery", before heading back to Goldie.

DT in the Lake Earl Wildlife Refuge


Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox

Since today is Cinco de Mayo (Mexican Army defeated the French Army) we celebrated with Pacifico beers and Margaritas at our picnic table with fellow campers and dined on black bean soup.
 
We are heading home tomorrow.
 
Really.