EUREKA!

Just south of the town of Eureka, California, is the Avenue of the Giants: over 30 miles of huge redwoods. When you are beside one that has fallen is a bit like standing next to a train!

The Founders Tree (one of the tallest standing) is over 340 foot high!

Between the Avenue and Eureka is the Victorian village of Ferndale. The cemetery is beautifully laid out in family plots.

Eureka itself has some spectacular 19th century architecture

... and Eureka's old town is not just about old architecture: there are great murals throughout the town.

Every Memorial Day week-end, Eureka hosts the "kinetic sculpture" race. Dozens of wonderful contraptions, that must be pedal powered for land and sea, are cheered through the town.

the hippypotomus!

a batmobile?

some sort of racing car

a couple of "snails"

a heroic rower

and extraordinary machine made of crushed tin cans!

and this was "mother earth"

When we crossed the border from Oregon into California, we hoped for warmer weather. But the wind off the Pacific has kept us wrapped up warm. Of course when walking amongst the giant redwoods, we are well protected against the wind as these huge trees are a more formidable barrier against Pacific weather than most buildings. Although they grow to over 300 feet, they are closely packed together and have intertwining root systems to keep themselves from falling. Mind you, the storms that can whip through here do uproot some and these fallen monsters take decades or longer to rot away into the ground.

We think that Eureka is the largest town that we will see before we get to San Francisco. Its downtown area is a delightful place with artists' work in shops and on walls. The 19th century architecture using wood rather than brick melds into the landscape: the style is described as "Victorian" but it does not feature neo-gothic arches as in the UK. Instead it shows more American country style verandas, porches and bay windows that are shown off well by having houses well-spaced out ... again unlike more crowded Victorian buildings in the UK. Also, unlike the UK, we have seen little or no grafitti so the murals look wonderful!