Him Outdoors and I have been greatly looking forward to our just-over-two-week-trip to the States. He was invited to be a judge at the National Homebrew Competition of the American Homebrewers Association held during the Homebrew Con 2018 in Portland, Oregon, so we decided to go and extend the trip by a little bit. And it looks as though we are off to a good start, with New Belgium Citradelic being on offer as an in-flight beverage!
We landed, collected our luggage, cleared customs and border control, picked up a hire car and drove to the home of Our Gracious Host and Hostess. We dealt with the obvious excitement tempered by jetlag by heading into the local village, Redwood City, to sort out mobile phone communications while in the country, and to generally mooch around the town.
It's got a wonderfully friendly vibe, as we discovered even as we blithely stepped off the pavement in front of a car (while looking in the other direction for traffic as we do in our country). The driver braked for us, waved us on, parked his vehicle, and came back to find us and tell us that he was truly sorry to have given us such a shock. When we explained that it was our own fault for looking the wrong way (we're not from round here), and that there was absolutely no harm done, he charmingly apologised again and welcomed us to America. Damn, but Californians are nice people.
Back at Casa Alvarez, we forced ourselves to stay awake to try and adjust to the time difference as quickly as possible; Him Outdoors by playing football with the young folk, and me by talking nonsense until the sun set. By coincidence, it was the longest day in the northern hemisphere, and we had experienced it twice by crossing the International Date Line. We made it until dark, and then stumbled down the passage to bed.
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| Him Outdoors playing football in the setting sun |
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| Our Gracious Hostess |
The next morning, bright and early, we went for a jog around Edgewood Park before breakfast.
In the afternoon we took a trip to Freewheel Brewing Company, which has a fine selection of English-style cask ales. The London Calling English bitter was superb - super tasty and full bodied - and the Ironbridge Wenlock Stout was also a stand-out; smooth and very dark with a lick of chocolate - a great desert beer.
We also called in to K & L Wine Merchants, as we had been told they are a great independent bottle store. Their wine selection is extensive, and there is a designated space for mini functions and tastings. This being one of the southern states, the tequila section is also impressive.
I was most interested in their beer selection, however. It is quite limited, individual, and all in the fridge. Beer is considered a serious business - as it should be - and is not sold 'by the slab' here, but is treated (and stored) with the respect it deserves. I suppose the people who want to buy cases of Bud go elsewhere, and everyone is happy. I bought a few samples for later that night.
The next day we headed north - a road trip under sunny blue skies through wine country - that can't be all bad.
En route, we just had to make a pilgrimage to Russian River Brewing Company. Of course, we were not the only ones, but some transport may have been a mite flasher than others.
We arrived about ten minutes after opening time and the place was full already with a queue to get in - it was baking hot outside (38 degrees in downtown Santa Rosa), but fortunately we only had to wait for about twenty minutes. Once inside, we were seated at a table in the corridor, but there was a television above us on which basketball was being shown. No one appeared to be watching it, so we asked the friendly waiter if he could change it to a football station and we sat drinking arguably the nation's best beer and watching England beat Panama in the World Cup. Happy days!
My top five was rounded out with Blind Pig IPA (Full bodied and very hoppy with a clean dry finish) and Happy Hops (Mildly bitter, hop forward IPA with juicy tropical flavours from the Mosaic hops). The Pliny the Elder was excellent, but it has a whole lot of hype to live up to - I liked the hop/ malt balance and it disguises its alcohol content well (8%); it's very good, but is it the best IPA I've ever had? Probably not.
And just to prove that it's not all about the beer, we met up with our travelling convoy of the Gracious Host and Hostess at Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves. The tasting was $20 per person and one was allowed to wander through the caves where there was an acoustic guitarist playing and comfy chairs to sit in. As one progressed deeper into the cellar, the temperature dropped slightly, which was a welcome relief - did I mention it was hot outside - and there was a variety of red and white wines to taste.
The Ritchie Vineyards Chardonnay was deliciously full-bodied, oaky, buttery and creamy with notes of white peach, but it's really all about the Zinfandel here in Sonoma County. Blackberries and black cherries licorice and exotic spices are what you expect to find up front and they are certainly present, rewarded with a silky smooth, fantastically rich and slightly smoky finish. Would definitely drink again.
Moving on, we headed further north and got our first taste of the big trees at The Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
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| There's definitely an old man face in there |
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| The bark inside one of the trunks |
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| Small person for scale |
The evening light dancing through the tall trunks was almost impossible to capture, but that didn't stop me from trying with thousands of photos (Thank God for digital photography; I dread to think how much film I would have wasted).
I love the fallen trunks for the way they contribute to the ever-growing ecosystem, clearing the forest canopy and providing more nutrients for the soil and the seedlings to grow upwards. It's such a physical and literal metaphor for the cycle of regeneration. It makes me feel quite poetic and overwhelmed.
And they're great to climb too.
There are many examples on this trip of the portion size in restaurants. In Ferndale, where we were staying for a couple of nights, Him Outdoors and I shared this pizza. It is half Californian (white sauce, chicken and garlic) and half Works (pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms and olives). It was delicious but huge! I've included the cutlery to demonstrate size.
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| Ferndale Pizza Co. |
Back at the motel it was time for a Pliny the Elder before bed. Him Outdoors is sporting the hoodie he bought from the venue, as it's a little chilly up here at night. Incidentally, we had no idea how the tipping works in this country and so I sent a text to Our Gracious Hostess to ask her. She replied it is generally '15% for good service'. We didn't realise, however, that this is only really for food, so we tipped for the entire bill, which included the clothing and the box of beer we bought to take away. No wonder the server looked happy - oh well, so were we!
This morning featured a quick jog around Ferndale before breakfast. It's a very pretty little town with many well-preserved Victorian shopfronts and homes. It used to be a popular destination as it is the northern gateway to California's Lost Coast, it is situated on the edge of a wide plain near the mouth of the Eel River, and it is also located near the extensive preserves of Coast Redwood forests.
Before American settlement, the area was populated by the southern Wiyot people, centered along the Eel River where they caught lamprey, eels, salmon and sturgeon in iris leaf nets, collected shellfish along the river and at its mouth, and cultivated a Californian species of tobacco.
The town was established in 1852 and over 80 dairies were founded along the banks of the river by the 1860s. In the 1880s multiple cooperative creameries in the Eel River Valley began to process milk into butter, and the use of paper wrapping on butter to reduce air oxidizing the product was pioneered here. The patent for a new dry-milk manufacturing process was also developed here by Central Creamery, with the highly lucrative business filling contracts for the US Navy. In 1916 the company moved to San Francisco and changed their name to Golden State Creamery. The town was a crossroads village along merchant routes with a history built on dairy farming.
The early settlers in Ferndale were English-speaking from England, New England, Canada and Ireland, and they were followed by further waves of immigrants from Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Portugal and China (during the gold rush years). Examples of these multicultural architectural designs still remain.
The tourism and agriculture have largely moved on as the modern economy has changed, and now it is mostly used as a backdrop for films set in the past.
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| Victoria Inn |
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| Ferndale library |
It's a very patriotic place, and the flags are flying proudly, even outside the facilities. Many times I heard Americans say they were sad their nation was divided by politics, but that they were still proud to be American. Even though the last presidential election was over 18 months ago, and even though this state is a blue one, there were plenty of Trump/Pence bumper stickers still in evidence on the backs of pick-up trucks.
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| Abraxas Building |
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| Hobart Galleries |
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| Main Street, Ferndale |
The buildings certainly make the town distinctive and, indeed, it has the distinction of being the only American small town (alongside New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas) represented at the Legoland California theme park. Ferndale was settled by many Danes, and Lego is a Danish company. In 1995 the Legoland staff took hundreds of photos in Ferndale, and used over one million Lego bricks to recreate the town in the park.
Surrounding the town are the fields and barns that hint at the heritage of the place. Some of the barns are adorned with barn quilts, which are a local response to community support. The agricultural and tourism project places painted quilt squares on highly visible barns and buildings, and is designed to promote and celebrate community pride. Quilters are a tight-knit bunch (if you'll pardon the pun) and they weave their threads throughout the country, particularly in rural areas.
Other spots, however, don't seem quite so welcoming...
We drove out to Centreville Beach for the obligatory coastal walk with a backdrop of pounding surf, polished stones and random driftwood.
Back to Ferndale where we went for another walk around the village, browsing in galleries and antique shops.
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| Now that's a proper box office |
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| The topiary is a little bizarre |
There are some interesting discoveries to be made in the Blacksmith's Shop including a pot-bellied stove, a selection of handles and door-knobs, cast-iron sculpture, and sixteenth-century pub windows.
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| Twirly Girl by E.A. Chase |
These four windows are from a sixteenth-century pub near London. The pub was torn down to build the M4. The windows were brought back to the U.S. by one of the engineers working on the construction of the motorway. A local bought the windows from the engineer in 1985 and brought them to Ferndale.
Which is weirder: a peace sign made out of barbed wire, or the heart/ scrotum shaped images dangling above it?
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| See the doll's house within the doll's house. I wanted to open it up and see if there was another one inside... |
I happened to mention to Him Outdoors that there was a brewery nearby. So he wondered (aloud) why we were bothering to look at antiques when we could be drinking beer. Soon, we were drinking beer. The Eel River Brewing Company is the first certified organic brewery in the United States. The bar is simple and unpretentious with a load of wipe-clean tables, good hearty food (the clam chowder was superb) and a decent tap list.
When it came to the beers themselves, I was mainly a fan of the darks. The Organic Porter was a wonderful concoction of smooth malt and rich chocolate; the Raven's Eye Imperial Stout was strong and boozy (9.5%) with obvious alcohol but a roasty, chocolatey, spicy finish, and the Unkindness (Imperial Stout aged in oak barrels) was full of bourbon, dark fruits (plums; raisins) and vanilla notes and was utterly delicious!
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| One of the best clam chowders I've ever had |
We rejoined Our Gracious Host and Our Gracious Hostess at Loleta Cheese Factory. There are over thirty varieties of cheese on offer here, all hand-crafted and made from milk that comes from Californian pasture-grazed Jersey cows. All the cheese is available to sample, from sharp, crumbly cheddars to smooth creamy Havartis, or an entire array of jack made with anise, jalapeno, citrus, caraway seed, roasted garlic, green chilli, dill, and a number of other additions, and the toasties and cheese platters are exceptionally good. The gardens are a relaxing setting in which to enjoy these dairy delights with a cup of coffee or mug of hot chocolate.
You would expect a town called Eureka to have some sort of goldrush history. It does. After the primary Californian Gold Rush, Humboldt Bay was settled with the intention of providing a convenient alternative to the long overland route from Sacramento to supply miners on the Trinity, Klamath, and Salmon Rivers where gold had been discovered. Eureka had an ideal location on Humboldt Bay and naturally deep shipping channels.
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| Woodley Island Marina |
Humboldt Bay is California's second largest natural bay that serves the local maritime and fishing industry (commercial and recreational) and supports an aquaculture industry that includes great oysters and crabs. Woodley Island, which sits out in the bay from Eureka, has a full-service marina, which provides slips for commercial and recreational vessels, and guest docking facilities. And of course there is a lighthouse, which has been relocated here from Table Bluff, where it was originally located in 1856.
The light was deactivated in 1971, and the lighthouse and associated buildings were bought by Jim Durkin. According to the website lighthousefriends.com, "there were soon over 200 hippies living at the commune and worshiping in the fog signal building, which had been converted into a chapel. Gospel Outreach was launched from the ranch and spread throughout the world." In 1987 the abandoned two-storey lighthouse was cut in half and relocated to Woodley Island Marina.
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| Table Bluff Lighthouse |
The Fisherman statue on Woodley Island in Eureka honours 'those whom the sea sustained and... those it claimed.' The statue was sponsored by the Commercial Fishermen's Wives of Humboldt through charitable donations and it was dedicated in 1981.
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| The Fisherman |
Despite suffering a string of earthquakes (most notably in 1980, 1992 and 2010), many examples of stunning Victorian architecture remain including the magnificent Carson Mansion in the Old Town. The home was built between 1884 and 1886 by renowned 19th Century architects Newsom and Newsom for lumber baron William M. Carson. The house is a mix of every major style of Victorian architecture including Eastlake, Italianate, Queen Anne and Stick.The project was designed to keep mill workers and expert craftsmen busy during a slow period in the industry.
Unlike most other houses dating from the period, this property has always been maintained and is in nearly the same condition as when it was built. It has been a private club since 1950 and the house and grounds are not open to the public. The popularity of the design has been replicated many times as a model for haunted house artwork, and in amusement parks including the clock tower on the train station at Disneyland.
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| Carson Mansion |
Other buildings are also impressive and only slightly less flamboyant.
It was a Sunday when we visited and many things were closed. But there was a brewery, and the brewery wasn't closed. Welcome to Lost Coast Brewery! I enjoyed the Great White Witbier (clean, crisp flavour with a citrus bitterness), the Downtown Brown (an English Brown Ale which remains nicely malty without being adulterated with American hops), the Fogcutter IPA (malty, hoppy, and strong in a good way 8.7%), and the Raspberry Brown Ale (I honestly can't work out if it's sweet or tart - it's not sour. Porque no los dos?).
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| Lost Coast Fogcutter IPA |
In the evening we returned to Ferndale where we met up with Our Gracious Hostess and half of our party for dinner. The other half were with Our Gracious Host having car trouble and were trapped in the woods somewhere. I's okay; they made it home safely, but we ate dinner without them.
We ate at Tuyas, where the artwork (by local artist Andrei Hedstrom) was as colourful and energetic as the food. I remember having Mexican food when I was in America before and vowing that, other than Mexico, I would never eat it anywhere else again. Of course, I have, but it's just not the same.
I had a super burrito (flour tortilla with chicken, refried beans, rice, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole and house-made salsa) while Him Outdoors explored the Chicken Mole. Although this was described on the menu as, 'a truly classic Mexican dish - thick dark sauce made with a medley of sweet and spicy chillies smoothly rounded out with bitter Mexican chocolate, served with rice, beans and tortillas', he was still surprised at the colour of it when it arrived at the table. I must admit, both meals tasted a lot better than they look in these photos.
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| Rainforest Inside by Andrei Hedstrom |
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| Frida Kahlo, I presume |
Thanks Kate, that was great. xx
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