Eureka California is one of those places whose heyday has long passed.  Fortunately all the good times happened during the earlier part of last century.  Thus the buildings have a lot of that Victorian design which is so nice. 

We went to visit Allan, Caroline's father.  We took him out to dinner, and Socks couldn't resist the photo op.  The dinner spot was a nice place called Jambalaya in Arcata just off the town square.

We arrived in Eureka in the early evening.  Eureka is a town of contrasts on the coast.  It was a great relief to have the cooler air of the coast.  The AC was working hard all the way up.

The first picture is the Ingomar Club.  It's essentially a men's club that uses an old timber baron's house.  The house is quite pretty and detailed in the Victorian style.

We also saw this sculpture in the bay.  Eureka is an interesting mix of very aesthetic elements and some very gritty ones.  The old houses that have been restored and refurbished are terrific.  But there are a lot of vacant and dilapidated ones too.  The people we saw on the street are either upwardly mobile looking, or decidedly scruffy.  There are a lot of contrasts that make this a very interesting place to spend some time.

We walked around the downtown a bit more before going back to visit with Allan.

Day 2 in Eureka

We had lunch with a Allan's regular mid-week lunch crew.  The place is a microbrewery in Arcata.  The place isn't particularly special, but the lunch crew certainly is.  They can hold forth on a variety of topics, and the opinions vary widely on any given topic.  The only thing larger than the range of topics is the sense of humor held by each of them. 

I felt right at home since you could tell this crew anything and they would find something right or wrong with it, even at the same time.  I was thoroughly entertained by it all.

Afterwards we went back to the house where I did some rewiring of Allan's VCRs to add a switch (don't ask..).  And then updated the web site while Caroline delved deeper into the genealogical past of her family.

In the after noon we took a cruise further inland to see what the hills look like.  Socks decided he liked having his nose into everything.  We found a logging road with an incredible view from the top of a hill and enjoyed the scenery and life for a short while.  We also got Caroline some sun, which is not abundant on the foggy coast of Eureka.

We left the hills and went back out to the coast.  Specifically, the peninsula of Samoa.  Samoa was a company town owned by the Simpson lumber company.  it's being sold now to someone so it can be a town unto itself.  It's got a great view of the coast and out to the sea.  This peninsula forms the harbor for Eureka.  We saw a lot of yellow lupines all over the place.  Especially out in front of this little fixer upper in the middle picture.

Socks felt the need to run out and play in the Lupines.  And as usual Caroline indulged him.

Eventually we went back to get Allan and went out for dinner.  We ended up at Hurricane Kate's in downtown Eureka.  This a a great place for a meal.  The Hurricanes are terrific (as Caroline and Socks can attest) and the meals are first rate.

The next morning, we went back to make our final visit with Allan and to have lunch with him.  Allan knows of a terrific little crab shack that serves up some really incredible crab sandwiches and chowder.  It's called Captain Zach's in McKinleyville.  (It's website is www.crabfeed.com in case you're interested in their recipes or ordering some crabs.)  Caroline found the Crab Louie much to her liking.

After the meal, since Allan is a regular there, we got the tour.  And the tour at a crab shack includes looking into the live holding tanks.  Socks couldn't resist checking out the crab, especially since he's got his claws pinned shit.

It only looks like Socks is humping the lobster.  He doesn't really even like lobster.  But it sure looked good to us, even after a full lunch.

After taking Allan back to his house we headed up the coast towards Crescent City.