Eureka

Knowing our first stint of driving today was a longer one, we loaded up on hearty bagels and coffee at a nice little locals place called Top Dog Coffee Company.

The cool weather and rain through the forest put Wesley straight to sleep and had Danielle clicking pictures left and right. Placid lakes were around seemingly every turn, deer were in the meadows, and we crossed bridges with low-key architectural swagger before reaching the coast again. There's something about evergreens coming right up to the jagged cliffs that just never gets old.

About an hour in to our pleasant drive, we stopped for a minute at a beautiful little collection of rocks in the water, but ended up scratching our heads at the information sign for Battle Rock... It starts pretty normal, saying that the park is dedicated to the Native people and pioneer settlers, got it. Then goes on to describe how Congress started giving away Native lands without, you know, telling the Natives. So a group of guys come in and of course are attacked by the Natives for trying to take their land, backing them onto Battle Rock. Then the settlers snuck off in the middle of the night, came back heavily armed with more men, and "established a settlement". We found it strange to celebrate something like that...

Anyway, half an hour or so down the road, we crossed the beautiful Rogue River Bridge into Gold Beach. Jason's dad let us know that his grandparents had planned to retire there, so we made sure to stop in the little port town for some pictures, smoked salmon, and to feed Wesley. We saw the Mary D Hume gracefully disintegrating into the water after her tenure as the longest serving commercial vessel on the west coast. It was pretty cool being able to see a landmark that, thankfully along with the whaling industry as a whole, will disappear during our lifetimes.

Just over the next hill, we spent our time enjoying Meyers Creek Beach and the beautiful rock formations scattered throughout the crashing waves. It was such a peaceful beach and our little guy was napping, so we had a chance to relax before continuing on.

Before we knew it, the state line was upon us and neither of us have been less excited to see the poppy-donning welcome sign. It was a strange feeling not to be excited about returning to our home state, which took a bit of reflection... Regardless, our next stop was in Crescent City, where we didn't plan our visit on the tides again, so the path to the Battery Point Lighthouse was impassable. It was still a beautiful location and gave us a chance to get lunch at SeaQuake Brewing Company. Avocado tacos and cobb salad... so good!

Back on the road, we headed into the iconic Redwood National and State Parks for our first real taste of Northern California! Breathtaking is an understatement. We could have driven for days through there and not noticed the time go by. Luckily, we did notice a few gangs of elk in the meadows (yes, a group of elk is a gang, look that business up). We popped into Patrick's Point State Park to see the redwoods meet the ocean at some phenomenal promontories.

After a short stop at Trinidad Bay, we headed into Eureka for the night. Our Airbnb is a 120 year old Victorian house in the heart of town, which should be an experience in and of itself!Læs mere