September 18-21: Quick Stops in Eureka and Ukiah, California

I’ll combine these two stops into one post since they were just quick stays without much going on.

Continuing south on US-101, we crossed the border into California and were soon at the Elks Lodge in Eureka. You may recall that we stopped here on the way north in July. There was quite a difference this time, as the place was almost empty. We stopped in the lounge for a libation and ended up taking advantage of the cook-your-own steak night again.

I

t was cloudy and drizzling as we drove, but we were rewarded with a nice sunset. The weather has been marginal since we left Port Orford, but not awful.

On Saturday, we continued south to Ukiah, again staying at the Elks Lodge. The primary purpose for this stop was a Sunday day trip over into the Anderson Valley of Mendocino Country for wine tasting. Our destination was Goldeneye, one of Geri’s favorites, but we made an impulse stop at Foursight Vineyards in Booneville along the way. We ended up buying a six-pack, of course!

Goldeneye was just as we remembered it from our last visit with Pat & Al two years ago (time flies!). We took our time with the tasting flights and had a cheese plate. The pups joined us on the patio and it was a spectacular day.

On our way back to Ukiah, we spotted a cloud of smoke from a brush fire and got concerned. With the ongoing drought, fires are a real danger this summer. Fortunately, CalFire was all over this one, with planeloads of firefighters landing at the Ukiah airport by the time we crossed the mountains. They had it contained within hours and it was fully out the next morning.