After Anwen's wedding, my mum, my grandma, my brother Ace, and his girlfriend Lina came and picked me up, and from there, the five of us drove to Trinidad Beach.
Trinidad is my favourite vacation spot. My family has vacationed there nearly every year since I was a very little girl, and it holds for me many fond memories and little traditions.
Rather than stay in a cabin in the redwoods a few miles from the beach, and we usually do, my grandma rented a beach house directly above the Seascape Restaurant, which is right on the pier, which is directly above a pretty little cove that I know well.
When we arrived, after we'd unloaded our luggage into the beach house. It wasn't upscale, but it was very cute, and cozy, and just what a beach house should be. There were three quaint little bedrooms, a comfortable living room with beachy blue walls, a fire place, a cable television, and a bookshelf stocked with a variety of novels, a balcony with a stunning view of the wharf and the cove, and a hot tub on the deck.
The first thing that we did after unloading the car, was to walk down to the restaurant. We first detoured to the cove, where there was a fat seal molting on the sand. It just lay there, even when people got close to it (rather too close), looking like a fat and lazy puppy, occasionally lifting its head to look about, and scratching its belly with it's little flipper.
The restaurant has changed owners several times over the years, but the food is still quite good. We all ordered clam chowder (one of our traditions), and my mum and I shared a glass of Chablis, which is a French white wine. I got a hot chocolate to go before we went walking on the beach (another tradition).
Here are some lovely pictures of Trinidad. It rained off and on during our stay, which resulted in some beautiful clouds, perfect for photographs.
Another tradition I have (there are many), is to take photographs of the backs of my brothers while they stand facing the ocean. It makes a lovely picture, especially during sunset. This year, I got one of Ace and Lina.
When we got back to the beach house, we put on our bathing suits and got in the hot tub. It was so nice to listen to the waves crashing only a few feet below us, and to feel the mist in our faces.
When everyone else had gone to bed, I sat in the living room and, listening to the tide, I finished my cocoa, and started reading a short, facetious little novel I found on the shelf called
"The Sebastian Sisters - Evvie and Sixteen" by Susan Beth Pfeffer.
After I woke the next morning, I went downstairs and had a cup of coffee with my mum and grandma, and watched the weather report, and then when we were all ready, we went into town (a very small town it is) to Murphy's. Murphy's, to the untrained eye, is an inconsequential little food mart. In truth, however, it's an absolutely marvelous little food mart, full of organic and gourmet items, and a vast array of culinary delights.
After we'd stocked the beach house's kitchen with delicious edibles, we drove back into town, parked the car, and walked.
We started by browsing the art gallery. Ace and Lina are very fond of hand-crafted mugs, so we spent some time examining the selection. There was a blue-green one etched with bamboo leaves that I thought especially pretty.
While we browsed, there was lovely harp music playing. I assumed that the man who was looking over the gallery (a pleasant-looking, middle-aged man with a long grey ponytail) had put on a cd. When I turned around, however, the man himself was playing a small, gorgeous harp. I went and stood near him whilst he played, absolutely enthralled by the beauty of the music.
Although the song he played was not a Celtic one, I distinctly heard a Celtic sound in the music. When I told him so, he informed me that it was a Celtic harp, and then he played a Celtic song for me.
From there, we went to the WindanSea gift shop. It used to be called The Sea Around Us; fortunately, only the name has changed over the years.
My mum and I got Ace and Lina a sea turtle wind chime. I got my grandma a pair of handmade redwood sea turtle earrings, my mum a pair of green abalone earrings, my friend Lissa a blue tropical flower necklace, Daisy a pair of red-orange tropical flower hair pins, and Marlow a pair of blue starfish earrings. For myself, I selected a couple of postcards for my year-board.
My mum and I met my grandma, Ace, and Lina at the little museum. We browsed a bit, and I added another Trinidad button to my purse. When we'd finished browsing there, I gave them their presents.
Some of my favourite flowers flourish at the coast. Flowers such as forget-me-nots, love-in-a-mist, and poppies, among many others grow there in abundance.
My mum then took me to the little wine shop to do a wine tasting. I got to choose 6 wines for us to sample. There were seven that I especially wanted to taste, so the shop owner added it in free of charge.
Our favourite was a rose' called 'Ambrosia'. Mum got us a bottle of it, as well as a red wine that I liked called 'Dark as Night'.
When we met back at the car, Ace handed me something covered in bubble wrap. He and Lina had gone back to the gallery and purchased for me the cup I liked.
After we'd walked on the pier, and relaxed on the beach, we went to the local eatery for dinner. My grandma and Lina got the ever-popular clam chowder bread-bowls, and my mum, Ace, and I got clam linguine. Alex and Lina had hot chocolate, and I had a café cocoa. On the way out, we got a square of "tiger butter" fudge, which tasted very much like a peanut butter Snickers bar.
The next day, I woke up early, and had coffee with my mum and grandma again. A few years ago, we went to a nearby Victorian town called Ferndale. I wanted to go back again, and see the stunning historical houses and buildings, and explore the many vintage shops, so we got ready, and set out.
Before leaving town, we stopped at The Beach Comber's Café. As many times as we've been to Trinidad, we'd never tried it. They that run the shop are self-proclaimed "tree-huggers", so they don't use paper cups. Since I didn't have a travel mug with me, my mum and grandma went to fill the gas tank whilst Ace, Lina and I sat in the café. Lina got a glass of organic apple juice, and I got a cappuccino.
Then, we set off to Ferndale. The drive thitherto was beautiful, as is the town itself. The houses were as pretty as I'd remembered, and the shops were spiffing.
We bought each other a lot of presents in the various shops. I got a pair of green abalone butterfly earrings from my mum, a pair of blue flower abalone earrings from Ace and Lina, a rose-scented soap from Lina, an antique, black velvet bolero jacket from my grandma, and a pale blue-green vase and an "I <3 Ferndale" button from my mum.
Here's a picture of me wearing the earrings from Ace and Lina.
In case you couldn't tell, I like hats. I like hats almost as much as I like shoes. Ferndale, being a Victorian town, prides itself on it's selection of vintage hats. I had fun trying them on. The one in the picture above was already mine, by the way; I brought it from home. I would have purchased one of Ferndale's amazing hats, but they are costly.
For lunch, we stopped at an outdoor café called Lost Coast Café and Bakery. The food was delicious, and the portions generous. The fellow who owns it does all of his own cooking and baking, much of which is organic and/or gluten free.
After lunch, we did some more shop-hopping, and took some pictures. Here's one of Lina, Ace and I.
After we left Ferndale, we followed yet another family tradition by going to the (very) tiny nearby town called Loleta. Amongst the few, rather dilapidated houses, there is the Loleta Cheese Factory.
Years ago, when I was very small, we went there for the first time, and we bought a package of cheese curds, that, we were told, would squeak when chewed. My brothers and I tried it, and were delighted to discover that it did squeak, and henceforth, "squeaky cheese" became one of our coastal traditions.
We got our "squeaky cheese", and my mum selected a brick of gourmet cheese, and a few bars of chocolate (they sell many other things there besides cheese), and Ace, Lina and I went out into the Cheese Factory's lovely garden.
After we left Lolita and headed back toward Trinidad, we stopped in Eureka, which boasts several delightful shops, three of which are included in our bag of traditions.
First, we went to Ciara's Irish Shop, which is full of beautiful things imported from the beautiful British Isles. So lovely... It makes me want to go even more.
Next, we went to Humboldt Herbs, where they have a wide selection of teas, among other things. I got some tea, and we browsed around. Some of their tea sets are very pretty.
The third tradition, sadly, is no more. For many years, there was a tiny candy shop right on the pier, in the center of which sat a motor boat, which was filled with a vast variety of flavours of salt water taffy. We always looked forward to getting taffy from the "taffy boat", but now the candy shop is gone, and a hotel has been put in it's place.
When we returned to the beach house, Ace and Lina went walking on the beach, whilst my mum, grandma and I took a final soak in the hot tub.
Then, we sat in the living room, and my mum and I finished our Ambrosia rose', and I finished my book, while they watched television.
The next morning, we cleared out of the beach house, and took a final walk on the beach, before heading to Arcata on our way home. We browsed some of the shops there, and then, for our final tradition, we intended to go to our favourite sweet shop called Bon Boniere. Much to our disappointment, however, the Bon Boniere has closed after 30 years of business. They used to have the most amazing ice cream, and baklava, and chocolate-covered cheese cake wedges, and tarts, etc.., and we'd laugh to ourselves at the way people pronounced it "Bon Bonner-ie". Alas for our two lost traditions. We loved them well.
Despite these two sad losses, I think we all had a very pleasant vacation. And for anyone who has never been to Trinidad, CA., I highly recommend it.
