Expanding Horizons - Eureka from LAX in Less Than 2 Hours
 

 

Pictured top are Restaurant 301 and the Carter House Inn properties. Bottom row left to right includes Sequoia Park, Sequoia Zoo, Table Bluff Lighthouse and a sculpture on Woodley Island sponsored by the Commercial Fishermans Wives of Humboldt.

 

Eureka, California -- If the "101" between Los Angeles and the Central Coast has lost its glimmer, now's the perfect time to expand your horizons and see Northern California on a unique weekend getaway. In two hours, you can leave L.A. and connect with Highway 101 over 700 miles north in Eureka where giant redwood forests and beautiful bays beckon to a simpler life and slower pace.

 

Thanks to an affordable, direct flight introduced by Horizon Air in the Spring 2005, Southern Californians can be transported to an experience strikingly different from the jam-packed beaches and freeway crunches L.A. is known for.

 

Open roads and scenic highways that meander through pristine forests next to beaches and bays make for a memorable journey that surrounds you in fragrant, woodsy tones, providing a feast for the senses. Inside a redwood grove you can look up and faintly see the sky peaking through the trees, smell the refreshing scent of the 2000-year old growth and hear the beautiful sounds of silence broken only by your own footsteps. It's the two-day pause that refreshes and rejuvenates that worn out L.A. soul.

This weekend escape is easy to orchestrate in a few simple steps. You book a flight on Horizon Air which is offering $238 round trip fares (www.alaskaair.com), rent a car at the small, hassle-free Arcata/Eureka Airport and by noon on Saturday you can be in the forest exploring the best that Humboldt County has to offer. (Car rental kiosks at the airport include Avis, National Car Rental and Alamo.)

 

There are so many activities and attractions in Humboldt County, it's nearly impossible to visit all of them in a single weekend. On your first excursion to the North Coast, don't miss the Avenue of the Giants. This world-famous scenic drive is a 31-mile road with 51,222 acres of redwood groves that parallels Interstate Highway 101. You can also take a boat cruise along the Humboldt Bay, shop for out-of-print books at Eureka's used book stores, browse through dozens of shops in the Victorian village of Ferndale, sample delectable Cheddars and Jacks at Loleta Cheese Factory, dine like the lumberjacks at the historic Samoa Cookhouse and watch playful Golden Lion Tamarins at the Sequoia Park Zoo.  With most attractions less than an hour's distance by car from centrally-located Eureka, the four-lane Highway 101 becomes your best friend in this neck of the woods.

 

There's plenty to do in Eureka, a city with a population of around 28,000 people. Established in 1850 and listed in the National Register of Historic Landmarks as Historical Landmark No. 477, Eureka offers all the charm of a European village. Beautifully-restored buildings dating to the 1800s make up the downtown shopping area comprised of several blocks. Within an easy walk is the incredible Victorian Carson  Mansion, four museums, a pleasant oceanfront promenade overlooking Woodley Island Marina, restaurants, art galleries, bookstores and boutiques. You can shop for lingerie at The Linen Closet, explore a huge inventory of rare, out-of-print, collectible and used publications at Eureka Books, enjoy art at Shorelines Gallery and try on fine imported apparel at the Irish Shop.

If shopping isn't your bag, taste finely-crafted beers at Lost Coast Brewery, the first brewery in the United States to be founded and operated by women. After enjoying a locally-made ale or stout, be sure to check out the museums that include Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum, Morris Graves Museum of Art, Clarke Historical Museum and Romano Gabriel Sculpture Garden on 315 2nd Street.

 

When it's time to eat, you'll find huge portions of American-style foods at Samoa Cookhouse. For over 100 years, the Cookhouse has served home-cooked meals—first to ravenous lumber mill workers, then to a hungry public. On busy weekends around 2000 meals are served in a single day.  The fixed menu changes daily, with breakfast, lunch and dinner served family style on long communal tables (take Highway 255 West from Eureka, over the Samoa Bridge, turn left and follow signs).  Call 707-442-1659.

 

For a real treat, make dinner reservations at the Carter House Inn's Restaurant 301. Gourmet food preparations utilizing fresh herbs from the Carter gardens create lasting impressions. The Chef's 5-Course Meal is perfect for most appetites and includes your choice of fresh fish or meat entrees. The wine list is extensive and helped garner a Grand Award from Wine Spectator magazine. 

 

When it's time to sleep, choose the Carter House Inn for a 4 Diamond AAA experience. The decorated rooms in a Victorian house built to imitate the style of real Victorian mansions, fantastic service and extras such as a free wine reception in the evening and breakfast in the morning make this inn experience an absolute delight. Many affordable hotels exist nearby but none carry the 4 Diamond rating Carter House properties have earned. www.carterhouse.com


Museums and Points of Interest

Blue Ox Millworks & Historic Park
9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Mon-Fri; Sat. by appointment
1 X Street
Eureka, CA 95501
800-248-4259
707-444-3437
http://www.blueoxmill.com
$7.50/adult, $6.50/senior, $3.50/children


Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum
423 First Street
Eureka, CA 95501
Museum: 707-444-9440

Discovery Museum
Tues.-Sat. 10 am to 4 pm; Sun. 12 pm to 4 pm
3rd and F Streets
Eureka, CA 95501
707-443-9694
The Discovery Museum provides a friendly, hands-on, interactive learning environment for children of all ages.

Clarke Historical Museum
240 E Street,
Eureka, CA 95501
707-443-1947
The Clarke Historical Museum is the only museum in Humboldt County devoted to the preservation and presentation of all aspects of our area's rich and diverse history. Located in the heart of Eureka's Old Town, a visit to the Clarke is an important and convenient part of the Eureka visitor's experience.

Sequoia Park and Zoo (see California Zoo list)
3414 W Street
Eureka, CA 95503
707-442-6552
Free Admission
Sequoia Park Zoo is the only accredited zoological park on the Pacific Coast between San Francisco and Portland. the zoo sits on just five acres and is the only zoo in the world with a beautiful redwood forest as its backdrop. Featured animal exhibits include a walk-through aviary with a variety of bird species in free-flight, a Barnyard with contact corral, bears, flamingos, spider monkeys, the "Secrets of the Forest" exhibit showcasing native reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, and much more! Sequoia Park is a 77-acre park that is filled with redwood trees, a picnic area, two playgrounds and a duck pond.

Morris Graves Museum of Art
636 F Street
Eureka, CA 95501
707-442-0278
Carnegie building opened in 2000 as the Morris Graves Museum of Art, houses seven galleries; a young artists' academy; a performance rotunda for music, dance and the literary arts.

Avenue of the Giants

aveofthegiants.com
This world-famous scenic drive is a 31-mile portion of old Highway 101, which parallels Freeway 101 with its 51,222 acres of redwood groves. It is by far the most outstanding display of these giant trees in the 500 mile redwood belt. The Avenue of the Giants is surrounded by Humboldt Redwoods State Park which has the largest remaining stand of virgin redwoods in the world. Take time to picnic, camp, hike, swim, fish, raft or bike ride in the cool hush of the redwood forest.
 

Eureka is very easy to drive around. Streets in a grid pattern are designated as letters of the alphabet one direction and numbers the other.

An official California Welcome Center with maps, information, free guides and staff is located at 1635 Heindon Road, Arcata, CA 95521. Call: 707 822-3619.

 

To plan your Eureka vacation, contact the Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau at  redwoods.info