Dinata Misovec

Cordelia’s mother Davina joined us today for our last day in Eureka. Cordelia drove straight to the Lighthouse Grill in Trinidad so I could get another nut burger before we leave the area. Davina became much more animated when she got her sandwich and “the best French fries she’s ever had in her whole life”.

After our delicious lunches, we went a bit farther north to Patrick’s Point State Park.

I told Andy to smile for the picture and he said, “I am smiling”. The ocean behind us disappeared in the mist.

It was a bit hazy over the ocean, but the weather was actually perfect for taking a walk. We were high above the ocean in the parking lot. The hump on the left is Patrick’s Point. The one on the right is Wedding Rock. The ocean waves were crashing over the rocks between the two large ones.

This huge rock wall is along the rim trail.

We headed out the trail to Patrick’s Point. Knowing I would be snapping away, Cordelia and Christopher decided to pose as I was approaching. I liked this one.

I don’t know whether they were posing for me at the point or not.

We stood and watched the ocean for a while before moving on. The specks far out in the water are both rocks and boats.

I came up another path and found Cordelia standing on a bench for a better view while Davina absorbed the atmosphere. The weather was perfect.

Wedding Rock in enormous. You can see two people specks on the path at the right edge of the picture.

I zoomed in for a closer look at the top of the rock and saw several more people. Note the two sitting outside the wall, just above the green spot on the left.

This is the next rock north of Wedding Rock. I see the white speck is still standing on the trail to Wedding Rock.

We did not hike down to Wedding Rock as the path and steps are steep and would challenge Andy’s sense of balance. I spotted more Dudleya growing on Wedding Rock.

I like this photo of Cordelia sitting quietly and communing with the Pacific.

It was fun to take pictures with family in them today. I don’t know what they were looking at, but it was something interesting, for sure.

Most of Patrick’s Point State Park is a forest and it extends to the bluffs at the ocean’s edge. Here, we were walking back toward the rim trail.

Christopher climbed up to have a look into the big holes in the rock wall.

Spiders. The answer was spiders. Therefore, he declined to sit on the edge for a photo.

It is a large state park, so we drove to Agate Beach. There are probably a dozen people walking down there on the beach, not even specks. At the far end of the beach is a sand spit that contains the Big Lagoon, along US 101.

I decided to test the seat formed by a low branch and Christopher took my picture.

Then he showed me how to really lounge on a branch above the ocean.

When he got up, he noticed that the ground felt hollow. And, when he stomped his foot, the pebbles bounced. That was just a little bit creepy; the ground should be solid.

I don’t know why I posted another picture of the beach.

Our next stop, still within the park, was Sumeg Village. There were more than 50 villages of the Yurok people along this coast in the 1800s. Sumeg means “forever” in Yurok. This village was constructed by an all-Yurok crew in 1990. It is used for cultural and educational activities that preserve the heritage of several local tribes: Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa.

Our first sight was three deer. What big ears they have! They ambled off as we approached.

This is a sweathouse, which I imagine is like a sauna. The opening is about knee-high.

I turned on the flash and stuck the camera into the opening for a picture.

There were three typical redwood plank family houses with a hole to crawl through for a door. Cordelia surmised that would make it easy to bash a bear in the nose if he stuck his head inside.

One house had this interior. Two wide high shelves (bunks?) and one bench.

The others had this odd design. The perimeter was the level where you crawl in and the center was much deeper.

Christopher said there were steps, or a ladder, leading down into the center pit. Did they sleep below, next to the fire? Was the perimeter to store food and stuff? Did they sleep around the edge to stay out of the rain coming through the smoke-hole in the roof?

The roof was a complicated structure made of planks laid crosswise to each other in a kind of a stack. It must be fairly effective keeping the elements out. Note the logs laying across the planks that are tied down to the main beam with hazel bindings.

This looks like another sweathouse. It was behind a locked gate in a fenced-in area.

This is the dance pit. The boards on top are widely spaced, presumably for some shade. For a moment, I wished there was some signage to explain things. Then I realized/remembered that this is not a museum, per se. This village is used by the Yuroks for ceremonies and gatherings. We saw a poster for one coming up this coming weekend.

Christopher served as my scale model today. He is six-feet and four-inches tall.

Our last stop within the park was Palmer’s Point.

We could hear the sea lions barking, but could not see them. Christopher asked me to zoom the camera on this distant rock in the ocean. I still could not see them, but enlarged on the computer, those sea lions showed up.

These flowers were along the bluff at Palmer’s Point.