Friday, March 21, 2008

Our Town

This is our town...California's motto...Eureka...I have found it! "It" is a fair-to-middlin' city with some flashes of brilliance, located on the north coast of the state, about an hour and a half south of Oregon. It is bounded around the north and west by Humboldt Bay, with the ocean just beyond the Bay's narrow and always tricky, sometimes dangerous, entrance. To the east are the beginnings of mountain ranges, and to the south, dairylands, forests, mountains and the rest of California - a different world altogether.

Wasn't too long ago that this was still a rough-and-ready town, built and sustained by loggers and fishermen. Now the old industries are dying out, and government is a big employer. Eureka is the county seat, and the immediate area houses Humboldt State University and the College of the Redwoods. They are struggling, too. Compared to the populous and mega-urban south, we have little political clout. But we do frequently have the highest gas prices in the country. What we have, as well, are beautiful surroundings, temperatures that are relatively temperate year-round, more than our fair share of rain, and easy, laid-back livin' if you care to indulge.

These are some bits and pieces of our town; quick snapshots of whatever's interested me as I've walked around the place. We also have suburban type neighbourhoods, rundown areas, and really tacky commercial strips, but who wants to see photos of those. You have your own, right?



To see them closer up and with more detail, try this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/humbug.pat/OurTown

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