The Historic Eureka Inn. Sir Winston Churchill stayed here as did president Hoover, Ford and Reagan. Truman Capote, J.D. Rockefeller Jr. and Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., and Laurel and Hardy stayed here too. And now so did we. There is a big beautiful fireplace in the lobby, the folks in the lobby were very eager to talk to strangers. Live music was a bit scary (very scary) but it was there. Eureka in is a very charming place. It can be recommended. It feels freshly renovated in the 30’s and then again in the 60’s and maybe a tiny portion of it in the 90’s but not enough to show. All a good thing. The style feels like a good backdrop for any adventure. It is a 1922 frame house hotel, seemingly entirely made out of redwood.
The ride to Eureka was quite magical at first and then later almost made me throw up as driving along the incredibly winding last portion of Route 1 through the woods at night might just do that. I felt very much like in the astronaut trainings camp. Acceleration, deceleration, 90? curves, 180? curves, 35Mph curves, 5Mph curves. Steep inclines, steep declines. All in a huge monster 4x4, a dodge durango that looks like a comfortable but a little ugly sneaker with a chrome nose. The suspension on this thing makes even the smoothest road feel a bit off-road. Who knows how it will feel out there in the wilderness. I kept the two wheel drive option on for now. Hope to save some fuel this way. Not quite sure saving fuel and Dodge Durango fit into one sentence though. The vehicle is huge. There is room for 7 adults. This was the only 4x4 the rental place had. We did not want to risk being stuck in the red woods in a compact, so here we go, monster-trucking through Northern California.
The ride on Highway 1 along the Pacific coast is one ofthe most beautiful rides life has to offer. Empty beaches, high cliffs, rocks out in the ocean and even in the middle of the beaches. None of this can really be captured on film anyway. So there will be no pictures. (Just really incredible memories.) I am really ready for the red woods now.