Trip 9 - California Dreamin'

On this trip we set out to immerse ourselves in the culture and the nature of California. To discover its textures and see some of its natural wonders. We discover that California is very big. It is not a state that you can just pass through, it is, more than any other place we have visited, more like another country. It is a land dominated by mountains, the spaces between and like nowhere else, water.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Eureka

Tuesday.










We have now returned to California and having driven through the delightful little town of Trinidad, reached that metropolis of the civilized world that is Eureka. Having arrived we have decided to stay two nights. Tonight we ate at a restaurant recommended by K.C. (a fireman friend from Folsom), called the Samoa Cookhouse. It is a relic of the Lumber Camp days of Eureka, when Samoa Island was owned by a lumber company and used it to house all the lumber workers. They had a communal cookhouse, which served one main dish, with soup, bread to all its workers. When the lumber company pulled out/went bust the cookhouse stayed on as a very well known local 'experience dining' location. We went and sat at long trestle tables, just like a school dining room, and were served up all you could eat soup, beef and pork, jacket potato and peas. It was great fun.
On Wednesday we took a quiet look at some of the wooden Victorian houses, some are quite grotesque, but fascinating.
One of the things that we have noticed is that there are a lot of 'down and out' types, within the town or we have noticed them on the road. I suppose the relatively warmer weather of the coast may make it a better environment to live.
Posted by fastrak at 8:47 AM

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