Cooling off in Eureka, CA

After spending a few days on the east side of the Pacific Coast Range outside of Medford, OR it was time to head back to the cooler weather on the coast. While we were in Medford for Alan to attend to some medical appointments, they were experiencing a heat wave and it was close to 100 degrees each day. Not Kim's favorite weather! The drive back to coast was slow as is usual for hwy 199 but no other issues. We spent the first night outside of Klamath, CA at Kamp Klamath RV Park. Alan booked this one based on looking at a map of the area and some limited reviews and honestly it wasn't one of his best choices. The park is in need of work and has a mix of full-time residents and us travelers. Alan also thought it was right on the river looking at the pictures but alas it wasn't and the space was tight. Luckily it was only for one night so the four legged babies didn't complain too much and the park had no concerns with the several dogs. There was a very unique chicken coop on the property.  Rate was $34 for the night.

We left Klamath for Arcata, CA and a stay at the Mad River Rapids RV Park which is just on the outskirts of Arcata and a not very far from Eureka. We actually picked this as our second choice after the one we thought we wanted to stay at wasn't available for the stay we were planning. Sometimes fate is a good thing and we ended up enjoying our stay here. The park does have a mix of long-time residents and travelers but the park is so well kept up and everyone keeps there sites nice that we didn't mind and everyone was so friendly. The lady in the office, wish we remembered her name, was quite the sweetie and helped us get settled in and helped us throughout our 12 day stay. The park is very pet-friendly and it seemed like at least 3/4 of the campers had a dog(s) or cat. Almost everyone was respectful with cleaning up after them (our biggest pet peeve about other pet owners!) and there was no issue with dogs not being on leash. While there isn't a designated dog run area, there is lots of room to walk around. The space was plenty big enough for us and while we like room between our neighbors, this one was quite adequate. They offer cable TV but we used our Dish satellite and were able to receive a full signal. Verizon service was okay with 2-3 bars, however their wifi is very slow and we used our phones as hotspots most of the time.

The Eureka area has lots of exploring that we found to do. The babies especially love the beach, of course living by it for a year before we started full-timing probably has something to do with it. We found a beach just a couple miles from the RV park that the babies played on several times, never many people on it so they got lots of running room!

Some of our other favorite things we found were some of the breweries in the area. The most unique one was Humboldt Regeneration, it sits in a self storage place and is easy to miss but so worth finding. They offer a unique variety of brews, friendly staff and are dog-friendly. When driving up it doesn't look like much but you have to give it a shot.

There are also many places to hike in the Redwoods, way too many to list but all worthwhile hikes. Vinnie especially loved the fallen, hallowed out trees and the girls had fun running through the woods and all the new smells.

Next we are off for some place to stay over Labor Day weekend that isn't too hot or too noisy.