Eureka - May 17, 2016

The weather was so nice this morning that we decided to put aside family researching and enjoy the outdoors.  We started with a visit to the Eureka river boardwalk. This goes for about 4 or 5 blocks and offers nice views of the Eel river and the fishing boats that were going in and out.

Our walk down the boardwalk led us to the Carson Mansion which is probably the iconic emblem of Eureka.  It is now a private club and the public doesn't get to see the inside.  But the outside is certainly impressive. It was built in the late 1800s by a lumber baron who built several of the Victorian buildings in the town, along with his family and business associates.

We walked down 2nd street which has the most impressive restored Victorians.  I really enjoyed looking at all the details. We explored a couple shops, including a VERY small quilting shop and then drove out to the Spit.

Eureka has the 2nd largest bay in California.  It is separated from the ocean by the Spit which is basically sand dunes.  There are a few houses and businesses out there, but for the most part, it is a barren land.  The end of the spit is a park and off highway vehicles are allowed to drive over the dunes and beaches. The tide rises quite quickly - we have seen much of the bay looking like sludge with low tide and then looking like it is about to overflow with high tide.



Rhododendron are still in bloom.  Mostly lavender and pink, I have seen some that are butter yellow.

Not tourist season yet, so we had the boardwalk pretty much to ourselves.  This is built for large crowds and concerts during the summer months.

A nicely done kinetic sculpture that rotates, not sure what is the source of power.



Woodley Island which is in the middle of the river hosts a marina, coast guard station and this statue commemorating the commercial fishermen.



The Carson House. Ornate on the front, when you walk around it, you find that the back is completely plain with very few windows.

Across the street from the Carson House is the Pink House. Carson built this for his brother-in-law who managed his lumber business.

I could look for hours to find all the different ornate decorations.  This is a Queen Anne with Eastlake windows.  Most Queen Annes have a turret on one corner of the house.

Russ thought the people who lived in this house were cold blooded, hence the huge double fireplaces.  I think the outside staircase was added afterwards for a fire escape.



This is the same house with a front view.  It is now a B&B. It seemed to me that the horse and driver were both drowsing as they clip clopped down the street, neither seemed to be looking up.




Most Victorians enjoy a complicated palette of colors, so it was surprising to see this row of houses all painted white.  The single color helped emphasize the different shingles.



This building, previously a hotel, is being repainted. I like the pastel look.



The tide was coming in.  This is pretty much at the end of the spit.  On the right is the opening to the ocean.

Even though it was chilly for us Southern Californians (58 degrees), families were out enjoying the sun.  This was the area where the movie, Summer of 42, was shot.  The dunes and long deep beach substituted for the East Coast beaches.