The day was mostly sunny and cool. Not cool enough to wear a jacket, although when in the shade for an extended period of time one would have felt good.
This morning we went to the Samoa Cookhouse for breakfast. It was originally a cookhouse for loggers.
Food is served family style, it is "all you can eat". There is no menu. You get what they have fixed for the meal. I guess you can call and find out what they are serving for the day. You sit at long tables.
This morning they started Kathy and I off with at least a quart of orange juice, two biscuits and gravy, a bowl of scrambled eggs, hash browns, 6 sausage links, two pieces of sourdough Texas toast and a pot of coffee. The waitress came back a couple of times to make sure everything was OK and to ask if we wanted more of anything.
There were some interesting artifacts in an area off the dining area. Right at the top of the photo is a chain saw hanging from the ceiling. It must have at least a 5' bar.
The cookhouse is located on an island. The location is shown by the red "A" on the map below. The fairgrounds, where we are staying, are shown as the gray area, just to the right of the green area, at the bottom of the photo. It was about a 6 mile drive that took about 15 minutes.
On the way home we stopped at a "wholesale" grocery store and at a Costco. Bought a few things, but nothing special.
Once we got back to the fairground I walked over to the office and paid for a 3 night stay. This horse, made out of redwood limbs, is next to the fairground office.
When we came yesterday we noticed the the trailer shown below. I'm waiting to see them hook it up and tow it down the road <grin>.
After getting our groceries unloaded, and paying our space rental we headed south. Our first stop was the Loleta Cheese Factory in Ferndale. Ferndale is about 15 miles southwest of the fairgrounds. Loleta is pretty much a boarded up little town. The front of the cheese factory is an old storefront and it was much smaller than I expected. In the back were a lot of tanks of course. They have two of the "vats" shown in the photo below. They start the process by pumping 1,750 gallons of fresh milk into one of the tanks. Six hours later they guys are dipping out the cheese.
The liquid has all been drained and all that is left is cheese curds, 15-18" deep in the bottom of the vat. These guys are dipping out the curds and putting them in boxes behind them. Each box holds 40# of cheese. The curds will compress and become a solid 40# chunk of cheese. The place was quite interesting.
From Loleta we headed on down to Ferndale. Ferndale's entire downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We had a great time walking up and down and checking out the stores.
Then it was on to the Avenue of Giants. A 33 mile road that parallels Hwy 101 and which goes through thousands of acres of redwoods. We only drove part of it. It was quite a disappointment, probably because we had spent time walking around the Armstrong Redwoods in Guerneville. One thing I wanted to see was the Eternal Tree House. It was interesting but wasn't worth the drive. The door in the photo below goes into a room that was hewn out of a redwood stump, many, many years ago. The room is roughly circular. The largest dimension is 20'
Finally it was back to the the fairgrounds. The day was busy and we are tired, but it was an enjoyable day. Tomorrow is the Rhododendron Parade. We will probably go check it out. There are huge rhododendrons all over the place. They are beautiful. After the parade we will probably check out the old downtown Eureka.
Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.
Ferndale is in a very active earthquake zone. It is not at all uncommon to hear that the town was shaken by a earthquake. Humboldt Bay nuclear power plant, the second one built in the USA, located near Eureka, was forced to shutdown because of earthquake safety issues. I used to inspect the facility.
ReplyDelete