I woke up bright and early (10:00 a.m.) this morning and felt – still under the weather. However, I was unwilling to spend another day just laying around the RV. So we packed up camp and headed 0.2 miles down the road to the entrance to Sue-meg State Park. Our campground actually sits within the park borders, so the drive was short.
The park sits on a small peninsula jutting out into the Pacific. We had heard sea lions barking from our site so we were hopeful to catch a glimpse of some. We parked at the visitor center and walked along a trail in the woods to the trailhead for the Rim Trail, a 1.6 mile one-way hike around the park near the coastline. It is not a difficult trail, so we thought it would work well for getting the blood moving some.
The trail was truly amazing. It snaked along the coastline, darting in and out of heavy tree cover to offer wonderful views of the coast. Except it didn’t today. There was a thick coastal fog rolling in off the ocean, obscuring nearly every opportunity we had to view the breaking waves below. No matter, the mist made the views within the woods even better, softly filtering the sunlight through the tall trees.
Upon reaching the southern and of the trail at Palmers Point, we walked the park roads back to the visitor center. The center was small but cute and the staff was very friendly. I had taken a picture of these beautiful grasses we saw along the trail to ask what the are.
“That’s pampas grass,” the ranger said. “It is terrible. An invasive species that kills other vegetation. And the leaves are sharp enough to cut skin. It’s awful.” Well, I guess we didn’t like it as much as we thought!
Getting back in Livvy, we then drove just 6 miles south to the coastal town of Trinidad. And unlike Crescent City, Trinidad was exactly what we hoped! It is a very small seaside town with a few places to eat, some art galleries, and other small shops. It sits just above a gorgeous bay dotted with rocks cutting up from the seabed. We were happy.
Karen had found our lunch spot for the day because, among other things, they serve fresh raw oysters. And I do love oysters, so there we went. The Trinidad Bay Eatery & Gallery has been around since 1975. Hard to last that long unless you’re doing something right. We put in our name for a table and ordered a couple of IPAs (hey, it was after noon by that point) to enjoy as we looked around the gallery portion of the place.
We started a tradition way back on our first trip together to buy a Christmas ornament on each vacation. It is so much fun to hang them on the tree together and remember each and every trip again. We really like to opt for something hand-made and local to the region we’re visiting. On this trip, over 46 days, we haven’t found a thing we liked.
But of course, we found it at Trinidad Bay Eatery. It is a hand blown glass ornament of a Banana Slug. Now, that may sound strange to you, but we have seen so many of them in the places we’ve visited in the PNW. I think they are cute. I am not sure Karen agrees. But we do agree it is the perfect ornament to commemorate this trip.
The food at lunch was exceptional. Karen ordered the Crabby Melt, made with a huge helping of fresh crabmeat chunks. I ordered the Fish Patties which today were made with albacore. And as a side, 6 raw oysters. Karen doesn’t like them, so I was forced to eat them all. Everything was great! Even the Cole slaw and French fries were wonderful. For me, though, the highlight was the oysters. Soft and buttery and tasted like the ocean. The key to enjoying raw oysters is to avoid ALL sauces and chew them gently to experience the flavors. You’ll never go back!
We bid farewell to Trinidad and headed back to camp. Well, farewell until tomorrow. Karen found a great place to get breakfast on our way out, so we’ll be back. At this point, we couldn’t wait to shower. As we’ve mentioned in past posts, it’s not something that happens every day on the road. So when we do, it’s quite fulfilling to say the least. I took a short nap, being quite tired from the day. Karen enjoyed some peace and quiet both outside and in.
When I awoke, Karen told me something I was hoping NOT to hear.
“I think I am getting sick, too.”
Leave a Reply