Saturday, June 23, 2007

Water, Water Everywhere

There are three lagoons not too far north of here. The largest one - Big Lagoon - has a wonderful sand spit about 2-3 miles long separating it from the ocean. About once a year, the ocean breaks through the north end of the spit, but the rest of the time you can walk all the way along its spine in between the calm waters of the lagoon on one side, and the crashing waves of the ocean on the other.
The road alongside Freshwater Lagoon – between it and a wide ocean beach – used to be lined cheek by jowl with RVs and campers every summer - regulars who came back every year to stay a month or more. Can’t do that any more, it’s day use only now. A giant park service building was constructed in the tacky little town near the lagoons. I think they promised wonderful things for the town that haven’t materialized. The campers that used to shop at the grocery store, eat at the cafes, and buy gas are gone and their numbers have not been replaced. The main industry of the town is chainsaw sculpture. Carved wooden redwood trees, Indians, smiling bears, windmills, and totems, are displayed on both sides of the highway all the way through town.
There are several tacky little towns around here that are nestled into incredibly beautiful settings – like faceted plastic diamonds in gold and platinum bezels. Some are working at improving – upgraded to cut glass. One of them is the last burg on the coast this side of the Oregon border. It’s a flat town, fronting on amazing ocean beaches. It bills itself as a comeback city, coming back from massive destruction when it was hit by tsunamis in 1960 and 1964, and damage to the harbour when it was hit again in 2006.
Pelican Beach, Crescent City, CA


It still has a fishing fleet, although now many of the big boats have been mothballed, and some have been converted to harbour residences. The major attractions of town are the spectacular beaches, WalMart, an Indian casino, and a maximum security prison. Yin and yang. It also has a great beachfront park, and a restaurant that serves clam chowder that is worth the hour and a half drive up there. After eating, if you want, you can make a pilgrimage to the great Wally. Attractive as it is, you wouldn't want to face it on an empty stomach.

1 comment:

Geezergirl said...

There also was to had the best biscuits and gravy on the northwest coast at a little cafe in the old downtown, worth driving for, 'cept i don't think people go driving fer biscuits n gravy much. They gave you an egg any style and 2 strips of bacon with the BnG, fer no extra charge. Might still be there, Glenn's Restaurant and Bakery it was called. On 3rd, I think. The variety of beaches within a block or two of any place in town is the most amazing thing, cause the coast turns a corner at Crescent City, so's you got a beach on yer left, a beach on yer right, and a beach on the bend with the lighthouse island just offshore, 'n that beach gave up the most beautiful little collectibles to my collection of broken bits of surf glass. I'll git you a pic of that sometime. Feralone.