A short weekend jaunt to Eureka

Transcribed in April 2011 from our old leather journal

This is a record of the first year that Mo and I knew each other and started traveling together

October 19, 2003

Sometimes even a short weekend can be fun.  I love it when Mo says, “Hey, let’s go on a road trip”.  This time we decided to travel down the Klamath River from Klamath Falls, through Yreka and to Happy Camp and across the 299 highway to Eureka.  The trip took most of the day on Saturday, with lots of stops along the magnificent rivers, and a visit to a wonderful rock shop in Happy Camp where I bought a truly beautiful piece of California jade, or serpentine, with a polished surface on one side.

As we traveled across the pass toward the coast, we saw a medium sized black animal crossing the road and leaping up the slope above us.  We couldn’t figure out what it was, too small for a bear but too big for anything we recognized.  A bit of research later revealed images of a fisher, a rare animal in this part of the world that we were privileged to see.

We didn’t arrive in Eureka until quite late, but after settling in to the Motel, we decided to try to find a beach somewhere.  Mo drove us out on a spit of land near Arcata and in the dark I ran out on the sand to smell and listen to the ocean in the dark foggy night.  It was magical.  On Sunday morning we went to downtown Eureka for breakfast at a great little Mexican fast food place on the wharf, with lovely fresh breakfast burritos.  We walked around the wharf a bit, taking photos of the famous Victorian and then got back on the road toward home.

On the way back, we stopped along the Trinity River to watch some kayakers going down the rapids and thought of my friend Jeanne who does this kind of kayaking.  Not for me, that’s for sure!  We watched a couple of boaters make it and then saw one of them flip and have to swim the rapids.  The sun was gorgeous, and the weekend was just the respite I needed before going back to another week of soil survey in Klamath Falls.