As we continue our survey of the Native American casinos of coastal northern California, we’ve found that while some of the casinos are rather lavish, some are a bit more modest, like the Red Fox casino in Laytonville.  Nonetheless, it was a great spot to stop overnight, and we enjoyed their hospitality:

We drove quite a ways south today to Hopland, California, where, unfortunately, the southernmost casino on our route is located.  It will feel strange going back to staying at Walmarts after staying at casinos almost exclusively for the past three weeks.

Hopland is home to the Solar Living Institute, a facility that demonstrates the integration of various renewable energy technologies and recycled materials.  For example, their bathroom stall walls are made of recycled prescription medicine bottles:

They had a tiny house on display:

Behold the geodesic greenhouse next to the windmill that drives the water pump, both of which are in front of the 10,000 watt solar array:

They’ve used old cars as planters for trees.  The display board describes as it as a tit-for-tat in response for the trees that have been hollowed out for cars to drive through.  Hmm…..

We climbed up into the absurdly high treehouse:

Sun kissed RV:

Sunset over the main building (made out of sustainable materials, naturally) and the bio-diesel pump:

We parked for the night at the Sho-Ka-Wah casino outside of Hopland, CA.

  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

This morning we packed up and said goodbye to the Cher-Ae casino and headed into Trinidad to do some sea kayaking.  The shoreline here forms a natural bay, so the waves are smaller.  Even so, getting out into the ocean was a bit dicey:

We spotted a pair of harbor seals on an outlying rock:

We got a bit closer to this fellow on our way back in.  They remind me of cats for some reason:

I grabbed the other kayaks as they came in to avoid a capsize on landing from a wave coming up behind the kayak:

We had an amazing time being out in the ocean.  Our son insists that we purchase spray skirts so we can go farther out where the waves are bigger.

After stowing the kayaks, we headed south to Eureka.  We visited the famous Carson Mansion, perhaps the most photographed house in the US.  My grandfather had made a needlepoint of the mansion, so I wanted to see the real thing:

When parking in Eureka, we experienced the failure or one of the links in the chain that attaches (under great stress) the weight distribution bar to the RV frame.  There was a banging sound followed by the sound of the bar dragging on the ground, as it was no longer under tension.  I had noticed that the links were being worn down, but I thought I still had a bit of time until failure.

At any rate, we drove to the local Ace Hardware and picked the parts necessary to replace the chain on both of the weight distribution bars.  I also purchased extra hardware so I can replaced worn components preemptively before they fail.

Once we got that fixed, we dumped our sewer tank, filled up on gas, and did some shopping.  As the sun set, we drove South a few miles to Loleta, California, where we parked for the night at the Bear River Casino.

After homeschooling this morning, we walked 1.5 miles from the Casino into Trinidad, California.  We visited the Humboldt State University Marine Lab, which has some exhibit space as well as touch tanks out back:

They have aquariums indoors as well:

Afterwards we hiked out onto Trinidad Head, which gave us great views of both the harbor and the ocean:

It’s a cute little town:

The trail had shrubs growing all the way over the top in places:

Before heading home, we stopped on the beach for a bit:

We peeked in the tiny Trinidad Library and picked up some produce at the grocery store before walking back to the RV.  We’re staying another night at the Casino tonight.