Loleta, Ferndale, and Arcata

Today's excursion was off to Loleta first, to visit the Cheese Factory. But to whet our appetites, George and Mary decided to check out legends of a now abandoned train tunnel  nearby.

 The distance was more than we expected, about 1 mile from the trailhead to the tunnel, but the past was well marked by the railroad tracks, and only required one small detour where a gully had undercut the tracks

 At last we reached it.

 And found some pretty neat graffiti.

We decided it wasn't worth going through the tunnel (you can barely see the light at the other end in this shot), and trudged back to buy some cheese and eat gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches in the garden at the cheese factory. A very impressive garden, too.

After that, we were over Fernbridge, and off to Ferndale, home of many Victorian era gingerbread structures, and today, thanks to a car club, full of old classic Fords.

It is also the site of a very old, very steep graveyard.

 An old victim of the Humboldt Bay bar.

A flesh colored Edsal!

 Ferndale is loaded with kitschy art shops, but we settled for some chocolates

On the way back to Mary's we drove down 2nd Street in Eureka, to see how the old part of town was doing (OK, not yet into another cycle of decay), and to see the Carson Mansion. Then we caught the bridge to Samoa (ala, not that Samoa), and stopped by the Arcata Wildlife Sanctuary and waste treatment center, where we saw this group of Godwits

And this Snowy Egret

Painted Ladies

I found a new butterfly today.  I thought it was the old familiar Painted Lady, or even the American Painted Lady, but it turned out to be a relative called the West Coast Lady (Vanessa annabella). I found it in a weed patch in Arcata.

It's the first new butterfly I've been able to identify since we came out, although I many have seen something like a Red Admiral out on the river yesterday that looked a little different than the one I'm used to.  Maybe Lorquin's Admiral?  UPDATE: Nope, pretty sure they were California Sisters.






There was another painted lady nearby too.

Arcata Market Morning

It's not much of a lie to say I grew up in Arcata.  It was the first place I ever lived without my family, back in 1969, after I came here to go to Humboldt State College (which soon became Humboldt University).  A far northern outpost at the time, it was a place where many parents sent their kids to get away from the burgeoning hippie movement at the time.










It didn't work, as the kids just brought it with them, and started a new center of "live off the land" hippies.  It persists that way today, and the most notable expression of it is the weekly farmers market in the town square, where the aging hippies and their spiritual and real progeny come to sell their goods.

It's a good place to come and buy some fruits and vegetables, some bread, a few crafty type items.











Today was an amazing day by north coast standards, no fog, blue sky, and hot sun.  A good day to lie in the sun...

or you can  Decorate William McKinley.  I remember marching around him while protesting the bombing of Cambodia and the Kent State shootings


















Listen to some live music.  The band was good, and did a pretty nice variety of music.  I was shocked to see and hear a pedal steel guitar being played.

Or a good morning to dance, if that's how you feel...