Our day started out with a bright and sunny tour through
Ferndale a tiny Victorian town close to
Eureka in northern California. Unbeknownst to us before getting there Ferndale turned out to have been a bit of a hub for Danish immigrants - lets just say that we became suspicious when the neighbor town turned out to be named Copenhagen and when the largest building in town was the "Danish Hall" (a meeting place for a variety of Danish lodges, churches etc...)
We decided to explore the Danish heritage a bit, including a visit to the pioneer cemetery that was very telling - a fun surprise and as an added bonus we met a second generation Dane at Nielsen's hardware store with whom we exchanged a few polite ancient Danish phrases. [Note to the reader: there seems to be a pattern here, exactly the same thing happened to us in St. Croix where we met and toured the island with legendary Danish immigrant Fritz Lawaetz (RIP)].
The reason Ferndale is on the tourist map is the multitude of Victorian houses - most substantially bigger than the puppet version I had my picture taken next to. The town was so cute that it caused Dad to break in to a shopping frenzy (people back home beware: strange gifts may be coming your way... ) culminating in Dad buying a summer cowboy hat. I think that means that there are no anti- Grand Canyon excuses allowed anymore...
Next up were the beautiful Redwoods, which had us cruising down the
Avenue of the Giants . I love the Redwoods, there's something very cool and fascinating about trees that are over 5000 years old and so amazingly tall. Dad started contemplating having a tree shipped out to Denmark, so that he'd never run out of fire wood for his beloved fireplace again - for the rest of his life....
We left the Redwoods heading back to the coast and finally making it out to the real
Pacific Coast Highway 1 and slowly making our way down to
Mendocino which is where we chose to spend the night, before heading to Napa to meet my sister Julie on 07/10.
Mendocino does get honorable mention as one of my favorite spots on this trip - we stayed at
Abigail's B & B incidentally owned and operated by a Danish guy from the lovely island of Laeso and just loved it - how could we not, the place features a gourmet breakfast and a daily pre dinner winetasting... Mendocino itself is just too cute - situated right on the coast and again featuring plenty of beautiful Victorian houses, in this case mixed with plenty of hippy trippy flower gardens.
Our day started out with a bright and sunny tour through Ferndale a tiny Victorian town close to Eureka in northern California. Unbeknownst to us before getting there Ferndale turned out to have been a bit of a hub for Danish immigrants - lets just say that we became suspicious when the neighbor town turned out to be named Copenhagen and when the largest building in town was the "Danish Hall" (a meeting place for a variety of Danish lodges, churches etc...) 
We decided to explore the Danish heritage a bit, including a visit to the pioneer cemetery that was very telling - a fun surprise and as an added bonus we met a second generation Dane at Nielsen's hardware store with whom we exchanged a few polite ancient Danish phrases. [Note to the reader: there seems to be a pattern here, exactly the same thing happened to us in St. Croix where we met and toured the island with legendary Danish immigrant Fritz Lawaetz (RIP)].
The reason Ferndale is on the tourist map is the multitude of Victorian houses - most substantially bigger than the puppet version I had my picture taken next to. The town was so cute that it caused Dad to break in to a shopping frenzy (people back home beware: strange gifts may be coming your way... ) culminating in Dad buying a summer cowboy hat. I think that means that there are no anti- Grand Canyon excuses allowed anymore...
Next up were the beautiful Redwoods, which had us cruising down the Avenue of the Giants . I love the Redwoods, there's something very cool and fascinating about trees that are over 5000 years old and so amazingly tall. Dad started contemplating having a tree shipped out to Denmark, so that he'd never run out of fire wood for his beloved fireplace again - for the rest of his life....
We left the Redwoods heading back to the coast and finally making it out to the real Pacific Coast Highway 1 and slowly making our way down to Mendocino which is where we chose to spend the night, before heading to Napa to meet my sister Julie on 07/10. 
Mendocino does get honorable mention as one of my favorite spots on this trip - we stayed at Abigail's B & B incidentally owned and operated by a Danish guy from the lovely island of Laeso and just loved it - how could we not, the place features a gourmet breakfast and a daily pre dinner winetasting... Mendocino itself is just too cute - situated right on the coast and again featuring plenty of beautiful Victorian houses, in this case mixed with plenty of hippy trippy flower gardens.
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