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Published: August 15th 2010
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Pattie and Ron's Vacation 2010 Part 3 Eureka to Fort Bragg
Day 3 of our vacation dawned surprisingly fair, surprisingly, not too much fog in Eureka. However, down the road is another story. My son and I were going to drive down the famously picturesque US 1 until we reached Ferndale. The Victorian-themed town, going by the name of Cedar Creek, was the site of a movie about a plague carried by a pet monkey. A box office success, Outbreak starring Dustin Hoffman, debuted in 1995. It is an interesting town to visit.
Up early, we ate a quick breakfast at the restaurant next door. A quick pack, a last look around the room, and we were off by 8:30AM. We left town on Main Street. It turns into US 1 about a mile outside of town. The highway quickly changes from small town urban to a tree lined, two-lane curvy road that meanders along the coast. The fog rolled in causing us to slow down in some places to about 15 mph to avoid plunging off the steep, rocky cliffs. About thirty minutes driving time further down the coast, the road veers away from the cliffs to some
inland meadows and pastures. We took the exit ramp for Ferndale on the right. We exited and followed the signs to the very narrow bridge that crosses the Fig River. The country lane approach to the town was bordered by lush green grasslands and pastures filled with grazing dairy cattle.
Ferndale is literally at the end of the road, nestled at the base of some redwood covered foothills. Once the home of lumber barons, the town was built mainly along the main street, and most of the store fronts are on that street. The town celebrates its Victorian architecture and works to maintain the image. There are two large ornately decorated churches, each with tall bell towers. We drove down a few side roads to sightsee and discovered the town’s original cemetery dating from the mid 1800's. Apparently a popular attraction open to the public, we noted that it has posted with some rules of etiquette. Several other roads let us see quaint bungalow homes, some ornate in stature, many with absolutely wonderful flower gardens. I think many would rival those found in English countryside garden homes.
Our curiosity satisfied, we headed back out of town, back
across that narrow bridge. Turning right onto the highway, our next stop was Avenue of the Giants, the giant redwoods. This leg of the highway was improved, freeway-wide and posted for highway speed. We passed rolling hillsides dotted with redwoods and pine trees. Following the signs, we exited the highway, turned down the ramp and back under the highway. We had our first glimpse of those imposing giants. The road is a meandering, narrow two lane road. The towering trees block much of the sunlight creating deep shadows. Entering the Avenue of the Giants is almost like entering a tunnel. Without headlights, the scene mimics the dusky look of near dawn.
The road goes through the forest but there seemed to be more trees, larger trees, on the right side. We found a convenient wide spot that allowed us to pull off the road, to park safely out of traffic. We were soon among the trees, walking through the lush, fern laden forest floor. There was the aroma of redwood wafting in the breeze. Paths through moist ferns offered soft footing as we traversed back and forth looking for that perfect tree for the next photo. Many of
the giant trees have fallen over the centuries. Their remains are decaying and feeding the forest floor, a continuity of life. Other trees bore the scars of lightning strikes, hollowed by the fire but still alive on top, some hundreds of feet up. There are trees big enough to drive through, even one that is 52 feet in diameter. Many of the trees are so high I almost fall backwards, leaning back to see up to their tops.
The Avenue of the Giants continues on for 25 miles. There are many places where the visitor has an opportunity to return back to the freeway. We passed several small settlements and souvenir shops. We kept crossing a small river, perhaps a tributary of the river we crossed in Ferndale.
We saw several attractive campsites along the twenty five mile drive. We took note, perhaps a future trip, camping and enjoying the forest for a longer period of time. The posted speed limit is 35 mph, but that may be too fast to allow full enjoyment of the beauty of the redwoods. It is a popular place for bicyclists. It is a busy, narrow road with soft shoulder. The cyclists
Victorian Ferndale Street
The quaint main street of Ferndale, with the look of an early 20th century logging community. do not yield and we had to follow them waiting for a safe place to pass. An interesting note is that the twenty five mile stretch of road was once the original US Route 1. It is now just a scenic side route.
A short stretch of freeway quickly changes back to a two lane road. We wound a final loop through the forest using our last opportunity to shop for souvenirs, pick up something we absolutely could not live without. We stopped at Big Foot Souvenirs and found many interesting, bizarre and some very over priced items. We did find some small lawn decorations. A reindeer family, made in two sizes, baby, mother and father reindeer. An antlered male endeared itself and found a place in our back seat for the remainder of our journey. Of note, the restrooms were porta-potties which were awful and not recommended except as a last resort.
We quickly found ourselves back on the freeway and almost immediately exited to Mariposa and Fort Bragg, some 44 miles distant. That put us back on some more of the surviving original US 1. That section is a two lane, narrow, winding, twisting, turning, corkscrewing, up
Victorian Ferndale Sidestreet
Narrow streets, period buildings, no wonder Ferndale is oftern used as a backdrop for movies and commercials. and down road for about 40 of those 44 miles, scenic but challenging. The highway climbs a narrow canyon offering trees, rocks more trees and more rocks until you crest the ridge and are on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. It is the same narrow road but this time you have a roller coaster effect with some corkscrews here and there. Near the shore we saw many quaint fishing shanties and a lot of line shore campsites. Fort Bragg, once an outpost to guard the Indians of the coastal region, was abandoned in the late 1880 when the Indians were relocated to another facility and the garrison sent elsewhere. It's a charming, isolated town with all the amenities of a mid size town elsewhere. It had been a long drive and our first stop was the first cafe we saw, Denny’s. I will usually go out of my way to avoid Denny’s but to stave off hunger we stopped. To my surprise it was clean, the staff friendly and the food surprisingly good. I will have to rethink my reluctance stop at a Denny’s. After we ate, we found our hotel a mere 200 feet down the road. A Super
Victorian Ferndale Storefront
New construction and rennovation are done in a manner to preserve the Victorian appearance of Ferndale. 8 in much better repair than our last night’s accommodations. We found our room clean and inviting, so much so that we quickly brought in our suit cases, quickly settled down for a quite late afternoon and some movies. All in all, a good way to end our day’s journey.
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