Redwoods | Ferndale | Benbow

Saturday 3 June 2006: Garberville, California - We woke to more stormy weather. It had rained all night and everything outside was soaked, our Honda was filthy, and it was time to point Our Intrigue south towards sunny weather.

The misty beach in front of our campsite this morning (note: this is NOT a black & white photo

We drove south on Highway 101. In the area around the Oregon-California border you will find many Easter Lily farms - 90% of the Easter Lilies in America come from these two counties. As soon as you leave the lily-growing area, you enter the famous and fabulous California Redwoods. These towering monsters turn the highway into a virtual tunnel.

 
Highway 101 in the Redwoods

As you can see from the photos, the sun came out! Driving high above the ocean, on the cliff-hugging highway, it was amazing to overlook not a sea of water, but an ocean of clouds - we were above the mist! Once we were down to sea level, sun and shadow danced between the trees as the brilliant warm sky showed above.

Our route today took us through one of our favorite parks - Elk Prairie - where we see elk nearly every visit. Today we only saw a small group of young elk lazing in the grass and stopped to take a photo.

For lunch, we took a five mile detour west to Ferndale, California - one of the quaintest towns in America. We have been here before and still enjoy a stroll through pretty Main Street. Something is always going on in Ferndale - today they were having a Farmer's Market, an antique Chevrolet car rally, a radio convention and a Portuguese Holy Ghost Festival (not totally sure what a Portuguese Holy Ghost fests over). The entire of Ferndale is Victorian-styles homes, shops and churches - or the structure has a Victorian facade. Their gardens are outstanding and their rhoddies (best in May) are simply unbelievable.

 
These photos could have been taken before I was born... well, except they would have been in black and white and it certainly would have not been digital and... well, you get the "picture"

After the architecture, the dairy community of Ferndale is most famous for the Annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. In town you can visit the Kinetic Sculpture Museum, view many of the "sculptures" and watch a video so you can understand how, even if you can't understand why. Besides the constant celebrations and festivals, it is possible to stroll down Main Street and visit several art galleries, foundries and craft shops, an old-fashioned candy shop, milliner, and assorted other tourist shops. We never miss the chance to dine at Restaurant Matias where they serve hand-made chile rellanos, tortillas, salsa, carne asada, chile verde, camarones a la Diabla and sell Pepsi and Coke made in Mexico (using sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup). The enchiladas, prepared with home-made tortillas, are not rolled, but simply filled and flipped-over. The enchilada sauce is rich and spicy. But the chile rellanos are out of this world - not too eggy and made with fresh black-green poblano chiles hand-stuffed with Mexican cheese. Definitely worth a five-mile detour. The prices are ridiculously reasonable.

Restaurant Matias in Ferndale, California


Chicken Enchilada and Chile Rellano - I have never tried the rice/beans, sorry

After lunch, we continued south on 101. Later, we stopped along a vista-point overlooking the Eel River and pointed the dish up to the space station and downloaded book orders for the afternoon - pretty nice "corner-view office" eh? We then stopped in Garberville and I walked the orders to the Post Office while DT attempted to fill the tank with diesel.

First, we barely fit under the overhang at the 76 station. Our CB antenna went BOOOIIIING as it clipped the ceiling. All was well though... well, we assume so, as the thing is on a spring. The Honda was hanging out back, blocking the sidewalk, so we had to unhitch the tow car just to fuel! (Isn't RVing fun?) DT goes into the station and gives them his debit card. The boy behind the counter asks DT if he (self-service!) would please first put $10 worth of diesel in our tank as he had just charged someone's card on that island and they wanted unleaded... or something like that... so DT puts $10 of diesel in our tank. (I think that probably didn't even register on the fuel gauge.) DT goes back inside and the guy runs the debit card through and the diesel begins to finally flow into our tank, until $75 had gone through and it cut-off. Dang. So back in he goes for another attempt and again he is able to put another $75 in the tank until it shuts off again automatically. The boy comes out this time and apologizes. "Sorry, Dude (he actually referred to DT as "Dude"), I didn't realize you would be needing more than $75. (DT says he distinctly told the kid he would need AT LEAST $200 worth of diesel.) Anyway, third time was a charm and the diesel flowed until the tank was full and our bank account was empty.

Our destination for the night was only a few miles down the road, so I followed behind our well-fueled home on wheels to Benbow Campground. We have stayed here often and have never made a reservation - but today it was a nightmare of a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere! At the campground exit, there is a small park, the campground and the Historic Benbow Inn. Today the park was hosting the Summer Art and Music Festival. Police were directing traffic, people were lining up cars into a large grass field for parking, row after row of food, craft and art tents lined the river edge and live music was drifting across the park. It all looked, sounded, and smelled very exciting, but we were pretty sure there would be no available campsite in the RV park!

Camped in California

Luckily, we were able to grab a spot for a few nights. It was 81 degrees when we checked-in at 5 pm and we really enjoyed the late afternoon in the sun and dined-in again. Many vendors are staying in the campground, so it was fun to chat with them.

RV Park: Benbow Campground