A week later and I am just getting to the end of our wonderful day in the Redwood National Forest.   The trip from Eureka to the redwood forests required a road trip north to just south of Crescent City, then inland to the trees.    The day was perfect, which, considering we were stuck in Eureka due to high winds and seas, doesn’t make much sense to our land friends – or me for that matter!    But who questions a perfect day?

This resident was left out of the photos of the Trees of Mystery.   He is cute, but what draws me most to the photo is that it’s probably one of the best I took all day!   Just goes to show you can’t trust the LCD screen of your camera every time.

Great picture!  Now why can’t I do that every time?  It’s time to go back to my photography books! I welcome tips, lessons, and favored cameras from you!

We came out of the forest on to the famous Coast Highway 101.   We couldn’t resist stopping and getting a closer look at conditions offshore.  From our vantage point the seas looked benign – looks aren’t everything!  Look at the fog bank  lurking off shore.   It came and went on the road the entire trip back to Eureka.  We wondered if we were going to be swallowed into the fog before we got home, but  managed to beat it back to the marina.

If you recall, I mentioned that Sylvia was given a huge bag of top grade tuna just moments before we left on our road trip.   We all agreed that the main course would be sashimi tuna that night.    Though we were all hungry, we resisted stopping off somewhere for dinner, as the tuna called to us all day!

We all pulled together, and put dinner together on DESERT VENTURE.  Our dinner is at the top of our BEST EVER meals on DESERT VENTURE.   I am not one to eat sashimi in restaurants, but I knew exactly how fresh the tuna was, and I totally trusted Ken and Sylvia to know the quality of the fish. It was beyond awesome.   For those of you who love Japanese food, and sashimi in particular, we had a world class dinner!  According to Ken and Sylvia our dinner was first class Japanese fare.  In fact, they said, had we been in Japan, we ate the contents of an entire restaurant display case!  Okay…we REALLY gorged ourselves.  Never – ever – pass up a world class meal.   Amazing to our friends, I had all the proper dishes for our sashimi meal.  You just never know what you will find on DESERT VENTURE!  We still have visions of our wonderful feast!

One afternoon Bruce launched our little dinghy and gave Sylvia and me a ride over to the dock at Old Town Eureka.   Sorry there are no pictures.   We both went into total shopping/browsing mode.   Our favorite book store was Booklegger.   You gotta love the names of the local bookstores and coffee shops.  It stands to reason that if they’re willing to go to the effort to create a unique business, they can come up with a memorable shop name.   I would love a few more hours in that very friendly store.

We have been in Eureka for two and a half weeks!  Last Wednesday, knowing we had another week ahead of us, we rented a car and did a road trip.   Bruce wanted the main engine injectors checked out and the closest place was Redding, CA.   That was half-way to his parents home.  So, we dropped off the injectors in Redding and drove on to Grass Valley and spent a few days with his parents.   They are doing well, and live in a brand new cottage, built just for them.   Monday we drove back to Redding, picked up the injectors – great shape and no charge!  From there it was a few more hours and we were home.

By the time we got home we could see our next weather window.   Bruce put the injectors back into their place, tested the engines, and then again today we tested them as we went to the fuel dock to refuel.  All is good.

AND – ta-da!!!!!    We depart Eureka  tomorrow morning.   San Francisco Bay here we come!   The weather window is only 36 hours, which means it could be less and not more, so we are going direct.   Our cruise, if we average 8 knots, will take about 27 hours.

Meanwhile, for the rest of this day – I’m Home – in Eureka!