The 4th July saw us head inland for the first time as we passed through the ancient Redwood forests of Humbolt County, California. Some of the magnificent Redwoods towering over us were over 1000 years old. The ‘Avenue of Giants’ provided so much shade we needed to use our lights despite the midday sun. This tour of the ancient forests took nearly the whole day and it was wonderful to escape the wind.
As the day came to a close we entered dairy country and the post card pretty town of Ferndale. The entire town is an historical landmark. Built from the cream of a thriving dairy industry in the 1880′s, the city scape is similar to Victoria’s gold rush towns but the houses are painted with such garish colour combinations that I’m not sure Queen Victoria would be amused.
The place to camp, we were told is the County fairground. After a quick tour of the ‘Butterfat Palaces’, we rolled down to the fairgrounds, which were to host that night’s 4th July fireworks spectacular.
The campsite was in fact fully booked. The County Dog Club had reserved the entire RV park for their annual show. We were greeted by the finest Irish Wolfhounds, Red setters, Poodles and Great Danes and told we could pitch our tent in the field over the road.
The fireworks display was something to behold! The sky was lit up all shades of red, white and blue for about 30 minutes or enough time for us to eat 4 hot dogs and 4 boxes of popcorn. Ferndale has a population of only 1300 and they were all there. Not only was the show free but the proceeds from all food and souvenir sales were to go to fund cancer care for a local child. As the show went on, our hearts went out to the dogs next door. We emerged with our ears ringing, to discover our field had become a carpark for the event. It was a tense wait before bed that night as we stood nervously and watched 500 farmers and their enormous utes churning up the dust around our little tent.
So, with the caravan park gone to the dogs, we packed up and headed for the Oregon State border.
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a lovely read. i was wondering how you would experience something so american as the 4th of july fireworks. even as a child i wondered how setting off bombs would affect the veterans of foreign wars. don’t they usually come home traumatized by the sound of gunshots and bombs? why celebrate anything that would adversely affect those we are celebrating?
does that make sense?
anyway, at least you know that someone read your lovely blog journal.
best,
jerome
but no linden trees?