Not Quite Finished With That Coastal Trip.

These  flowering quince blooms

 are from a family members house 

that we're keeping watch over while

they're away for a month to spend

time  in Arizona.

I just had to snip a couple of 

 the branches while we were there. 

Here they are tucked them into a pint sized

dairy bottle found at the local market

over in Trinidad. 

We needed creamer for our 

morning coffee in the hotel room.

These are my kind of souvenirs.

I purchased one on a prior trip,

and then another on this trip.

I think these dairy bottles would

look cute lined up on a counter

or table with some flowers tucked inside.

Let's see, it will take me  awhile

to get  ~ a half dozen of these bottles.

One per trip ~ Yeah,

sounds like an excuse to get to the coast...

Dear husband,

 I need more dairy bottles.

While we were over in Eureka

we stopped to visit Fort Humboldt

State Historic Park.

Yes, it is also on the park closure list.

 This LINK has a brief history on the park.

The larger building is the hospital,

and the smaller home was the surgeons quarters.

The ocean is visible between the roofs of the two 

buildings on the right.  The hospital 

was damaged during an earthquake in December.

It has roof damage and I think it lost a chimney.

The building has been emptied 

and is closed to the public.

I'm not sure if there are efforts there in Eureka

to raise funds to keep the park open

during our states budget problems.

~~~

The desertion rate was high at Fort Humboldt.

Between the cold foggy summers, and the

incessant winter rains, the living conditions

were cold and rather miserable.

The lure of the gold rush was tempting as well.

  There's a short walk in the park with 

information signs posted along the way.

From one of those signs

we learned that Ulysses S. Grant 

was stationed here.

~~~~~ 

 Driven from Duty * 

source here:

  http://parks.ca.gov/?page_id=665

"Ulysses S. Grant was the commanding general 

of the Union forces during the Civil War

 and later served two terms as 

President of the United States.

 He was stationed at Fort Humboldt

 for 4-5 months and may

have lived in one of the captains quarters. 

Life here was boring for the 

young, energetic officer.

 He missed his family in Missouri

 and felt that his Army career 

was at a standstill.

 In the summer of 1854, 

Grant was asked to resign

 by the Fort's commander, 

Lt.Col. Robert Buchannon, 

or face a court martial for a

 possible charge of being

"drunk on duty."  

Buchannon and Grant had

served together before

 and were known to be bitter rivals. 

This was just one of the incidents 

that led to the myth of

Grant being a hard drinking man.

He resigned and went home 

to try his hand at farming

until 1861 when the Civil War 

called him back to duty."

~~~~~

I don't suppose he'd be 

elected in today's political climate.

We had a  slightly frustrating time 

trying to find this Maritime Museum. 

  We were using our  phone's

GPS and map locator to find it,   

 only to drive past the building

and not 'see' it.

All along, there  it was at the north

end of the parking lot

right next to the Samoa Cookhouse.

I think we were expecting

 to find a larger building.

It was closed for the Sunday morning

we were there, but it looked interesting

none the less.  Maybe next time

we'll get to explore inside.

I thought you'd like to see 

the rest of the bell buoy.


That little sign says:
Bell Buoy
Entering Humboldt Bay,
as well as most harbors, 
The bell buoy is the 
second coming from the ocean.
The first is the 'Sea Buoy'
or 'Whistle Buoy'.

 The initials stand for

 United States Light House Service.

That's it for today,

I've got to get out of this office 

chair before I'm anchored here...