Hospitals and Hospitality

Well, yet again, we are knocked out by the kindness of the people that we meet on our journey around the USA. Today, we were lucky enough to experience, once more, the hospitality of Susan & Jim from The Restaurant in Fort Bragg, and what a wonderful relaxing day it has been.

We ambled over here from our B&B around 10am this morning (a very short trip for Trusty & Steed!), and immediately found ourselves whisked inside for poached eggs, bacon, toast etc. Susan showed us around the cute little apartment above the restaurant where we are staying tonight, and explained the history of the building. Turns out that this building was the first hospital in Fort Bragg, dating from the 1800s. And guess what? The B&B where we stayed last night across the street was the second hospital in Fort Bragg, after the first closed down. Unwittingly, we have been on a historical hospital tour of the area...cool.

We spent the day chilling out in the apartment, planning routes, watching TV, doing a few bits and pieces that we needed to do on the computer. We did venture out briefly, with the emphasis on the word “brief”. It was truly blowing a gale out there, with gusts of over 40 mph from, you guessed it, the NW! Thank goodness we didn’t ride today.

This evening, we ate with Susan & Jim, who cooked for us (the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays). We both picked up a few tips from the professionals, and undertook some minor tasks, before we all sat down at “the chef’s table” in the kitchen for lemon prawns with wild rice and sautéed vegetables. Delicious. And we finished off with some divine crème brulee and homemade carrot cake. Kat is a bit of an aficionado when it comes to crème brulee and can, hand on heart, say that it was one of the best that she has ever tasted (perhaps THE best in fact).

After what seemed like an evening shooting the breeze with old friends, we made a bit of a fuss of their super cute dogs, Scruffy and Julia, and then returned to the apartment, where we are once more chilling out and getting ourselves ready to set off again tomorrow… a long and hilly ride to Garberville, CA, and the redwoods. Awesome.

Us x