Arcata, California to Gold Beach, Oregon

Gold Beach, Oregon:  Hello from Our Own State! How nice to be back in Oregon after more than two months away - never mind the awful weather. For spending the entire day in foggy rain, we really had a great time.

We had breakfast at the historic Crosswinds Restaurant in downtown Arcata. This fun restaurant serves traditional and vegetarian breakfast and lunch in a Victorian mansion built in 1876. Meals are served in the living areas of the main floor. Arcata is quite a counter-culture haven and if you want organic soy tempeh bacon - you can order it at Crosswinds. DT ordered a "Pancake Sandwich" and I ordered a Chile Rellano omelet. Both dishes were delish. It was a great restaurant, with steamy sweet cappuccinos and great service. Of course, we couldn't eat even half of our meals - portions are so huge.

< A sourdough pancake sandwich with chicken sausage

Chile rellano omelet - smothered in salsa - at The Crosswinds

Downtown Arcata is quite charming and a stroll around the square is a nice way to spend the morning, (though you may find a few homeless characters around the town square, called Plazaoids by the locals). In the center of the plaza stands a Haig Patigian statue of President William McKinley, erected on July 4, 1906. The statue was a gift to Arcata by a leading citizen, George Zehndner as a tribute to McKinley after his assassination.

Zehndner was born in Bavaria in 1824 and came to the US in 1849. Zehndner lead a very colorful life and had quite a few adventures on his way from Bavaria to Arcata. The passage from Europe took three months and he first settled in Indiana where he worked on a farm and learned English. Next he took a river boat from Cincinnati to New Orleans, where he earned his passage to Havana, then to Panama. He walked across Panama to reach the west coast and then caught a ship north, arriving in San Francisco aboard the Lena in 1852. After working as a wood cutter in Sacramento, Zehndner ran a mule team. He traded his mules for cows and started ranching near Arcata. Indians raided his ranch, burned it to the ground and shot Zehndner in the back and the hand. After a two-year recovery, he started ranching again and and eventually became quite successful in ranching and in business. In town, ask for a map of the walking tours of all the historical Victorian homes of Arcata.

NOTE: At an Arcata supermarket, looking over the local cheese selection from the very upscale Cypress Grove Chevre of Arcata, I struck-up a conversation with a local woman. She volunteers at the Arcata Food Bank which serves three meals daily to the homeless of the community. She claims the food is so good (due to donations from the area's fabulous dairies, farms, bakeries, etc.) and the town has such a great reputation for feeding the less-fortunate - the homeless never want to leave.

Arcata is home to many fabulous book shops, outdoor stores, antique shops, organic clothing stores, art galleries, cafes and organic coffee shops. (I do not think you can buy a cup of coffee in Arcata that is not organic.) If you are looking for something more urbane, one side of the square is flanked by a large liquor store and three incredibly seedy bars - one is called The Alibi Lounge, offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. Windows not included.

Elk Prairie Park Headquarters

After taking a drive through the outskirts of Arcata to see a few of the large local dairies, we hitched-up the Honda and headed north on Highway 101 and didn't stop until we reached our favorite spot in the California Redwoods - Elk Prairie. Today, we were lucky to see a huge herd of elk along the side of the highway before entering the park - but not even one elk at Elk Prairie.

In January 2007, a 70-year-old hiker was attacked by a mountain lion while hiking with his wife in Elk Prairie Park. His wife fought-off the mountain lion with a stick and a ball point pen while the animals inflicted terrible injury to the man, basically removing his scalp. Finally the animal left. After many complications and surgeries, the lucky hiker was released a few days ago from a San Francisco hospital. The ranger told us the park had shot (hunted with the help of dogs) two small (75 lb.) cats a few days after the attack - siblings - and the female mountain lion had human blood under her claws. We learned the cats were very small and were probably orphans as they did not know how to hunt. (The cat was biting at the skull and normally a lion will bite at the neck to kill prey.) The park speculates the cats were never taught how to properly kill and though both cats had empty stomachs, they were otherwise perfectly healthy.

The ranger said a few years ago a huge mountain lion (over 120 lbs.) killed a healthy 750 pound bull elk in the Elk Prairie Park. The park staff knew about the kill and had the carcass watched. The ranger told us she was amazed to watch this lion flip the 750 pound carcass completely over (to eat the other side). The strength of a mountain lion is unbelievable. Today in the park, scat from another large cat was discovered. Mountain Lions are out there and as the mountain lion population increases, so will attacks on humans. Fascinating stuff, but be careful out there, people.

Continuing north, we found snow on the side of the road - even with the wild Pacific in the background. It seems we are unable to avoid snow on our way home. After entering Oregon, we stopped at the pretty Harris Beach State Park and made day camp in the beach parking area. Dish up, we caught up on email and rested by the stormy sea before continuing on into Oregon and making camp for the night at Turtle Rock RV Resort along Hunter Creek just south of Gold Beach.

Harris Beach State Park - the view from Our Intrigue (this photo is not black and white)

The weather continues to be terrible. Steady rain. Fog. It is dark and gloomy. For dinner tonight, we drove into Gold Beach for dinner at the Nor'wester and enjoyed "regional seafood specialties", good service and could hear sea lions barking during our meal. (It was too dark to see the creatures on the wharf.) While not exactly fine dining, I think it would be difficult to get a bad meal here.

DT had steak and sautéed oysters.


I ordered a grilled halibut steak

RV Park: Turtle Rock RV Resort