Eureka and a few other small towns:)

Eureka! I’ve found it!

Alex and I spent some time in Eureka and some other small towns around the vicinity. I’ve probably enjoyed our travels the most in this area. Eureka is an old logging town that is lined with beautiful elaborate Victorian homes/buildings. The Victorian architecture reminded me of home in Downtown Sacramento. Most of the Victorian homes have been turned into commercial buildings and are very well preserved, but others are slowly deteriorating; they have a lot of potential.   

Alex and I took a little amble around Old Town Eureka and walked by the famous Carson House. 

It is probably the biggest and most Victorian designed mansion in all of Eureka. It was owned by a man, named Carson, who was a big time logger back in the 1800s. He was a very well-to-do man and well liked by all his peers, but he eventually went insane. Supposedly he ranted about seeing "Big Foot" on one of his logging ventures, but no one believed him. Come on, who would believe a silly story like that? He obsessed over the idea of someday capturing "Big Foot." Everyday he would devise a new plan on how he could capture the beast, but the obsession is what eventually drove him to insanity. Carson’s wife committed him to the local mental ward where he died just two years later. His wife quickly remarried his long-time best friend and they were happily married for the next 30 years. Pretty crazy, literally. Unfortunately, the Carson House is not open to the public. It is privately owned by a "members only" club. They don’t do any tours because they are deeply offended by Mr. Carson’s wife for committing him to a mental ward. The club supposedly believes that "Big Foot" exists, too. They hope to someday capture the animal to fulfill Carson's dream. Very strange. It’s a mysteriously beautiful building.

After leaving Eureka we stayed at a friend of my parent’s home. Her name is Shelley and she lives just south of Eureka on a beautiful 5 acre farm. She has goats, horses and chickens. She was so hospitable and very good company. She shared with us a delicious enchilada dinner and homemade goat cheese served with tortilla chips. The goat cheese was phenomenal! So flavorful and creamy. I could have eaten it for days, it was that good. Seriously, I wish all of you who are reading this could have tasted this goat cheese! I think someday Alex and I are going to have to raise our own goats so that we can make goat cheese ourselves. Shelley said goats are very fun animals to have because they are sort of like your friends who produce delicious milk for you to make cheese, custards and etc. We had fresh goats milk with our cereal in the morning which was very tasty, as well. 

We made a short stop in Ferndale. It’s a very cute little town near Eureka. It is a Farm town, but also has Victorian style homes like Eureka. They aren’t as elaborate, but still very beautiful.

After leaving Ferndale we made our way up to Arcata. We didn’t spend very much time there, but I absolutely loved it! It is the home of Humboldt State University. So, it is mainly a college town, but the people there and vibe of the town is so laid back and care-free; probably because most of the town is high on some type of drug. Hey, I'm just saying.  We also saw sooo many Volkswagons, mostly Vanagons. Alex and I walked to a very unique coffee house, called Mokka Café. It serves coffee and you can spend some time in their hot tub or sauna rooms, if you feel like it. So weird, but so cool at the same time. The atmosphere was awesome and they even had their cat relaxing with the customers while they enjoyed their coffee. The cat was so chill. My sister, Deborah, and her husband would absolutely love this coffee house.  I wish they could have been there with us. They would appreciate the ambiance. The Mokka Café is by far the most interesting coffee house I have ever been to. The sauna rooms and hot tubs are so popular there that we couldn’t even try it out if we wanted to because they were all booked up for the day.

Before leaving Arcata, we took a short hike in the Arcata Community Forest. The forest was so beautiful. As I was walking through it, I felt like I was in a dream or something. It seemed so unreal. There were moss covered Redwood trees and random mushrooms sprouting up from the ground. The dirt was a beautiful rich color red and there was bright green shrubbery all around us. All I can say is, God is a magnificent artist; his creation is spectacular!

P.S. I made up the story about the Carson House, I couldn't resist. It's such a mysterious house that I had to imagine something up about it:), but it is owned by a private members only club. The club is supposedly a bunch of lawyers. I had you fooled, didn’t I? Hehe:p