Crescent City, California: We left Benbow in partially-cloudy skies and followed Highway 101 north – repeating several of the miles traversed yesterday in the Jeep on our visit to Ferndale. Traffic was light, but at several points the road is just in terrible shape. Apparently it isn’t always a good idea to build a road hanging-out over the edge of the Pacific Ocean? We went through Eureka and Arcata – the only towns of any size at all. Most of the drive today was through forests and along the seashore. Really a spectacular drive if you are in a car.
We stopped for a lunch break along a wide spot in the road with RV-friendly turnouts, and took a little walk down to the shore to stretch our legs and take photos of each other.
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Just in case you missed it… |
Wind-blown look |
The Magna Peregrinus, from the beach.
DT found a pretty rock
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Looking south.. |
Looking north… |
Blooms on the shore
Wild grasses and flowers
Your lupines or your life… random, ancient, Monty Python quote)
Not long after our lunch stop, we paused again to take the scenic loop through what used to be called Elk Prairie… but it now just Prairie Creek… we assume because the elk no longer hang-out here? (No idea, but we have seen several large herd of elk over the past several days, so don’t worry, there are plenty of elk in the area.)
Guess what we found at Elk Prairie? Deer. A nice, healthy herd of deer.
Deer Prairie?
We weren’t sure where we were going – except, eventually Portland, so we just kept driving until My Driver was tired from fighting the dipsy-doodles in Highway 101, and we passed into Crescent City and saw a very-empty city campground right on the beach. Done.
There is a pretty little lighthouse just off shore from the campground. Due to tides, it is not always reachable via car from shore. We can hear a fog horn (not too noticeable and really a bit soothing) calling in the distance.
Here is another photo of the lighthouse island… with all of the power lines and cars photoshopped away…
with a sepia filter. Just for fun… and nostalgia.
Just after we returned from our walk, the sky opened. We are staying-in this evening. In fact, we didn’t even unhitch the tow car.
Before we left Benbow this morning, I put the leftover (Saturday night at the Benbow Inn) lamb shank in the crockpot with a chopped carrot and a random/stray stem of basil. It stewed-away (nested in the kitchen sink!) on low all day as we drove north. A bit torturous to have that aroma enticing us all day. When we arrived in Crescent City and set-up camp, I shredded the lamb, then added all those lovely beans from my lamb shank dinner – and the remainder of a bag of baby spinach to the pot. Beans + Greens!
No kidding, there is enough soup for lunch tomorrow. That lamb shank will feed five meals.
Until my next update, I remain, your Crescent City correspondent.
RV PARK: Shoreline RV Campgound – City owned/operated campground on the shore in Crescent City. Walk to beach, parks and town. Full-service 50 amp sites. Pull-throughs and front-in sites over-looking the bay. Good wifi, good cellular coverage, showers, laundry. We paid $38.