But don’t start down that road to the the ocean from yesterday’s post quite yet: you’ll want to stop for lunch. Trust me on this.

A good suggestion would be Poppa Joe’s (“Home of Good Eats – Serving Ferndale Since 1882”), right on the main street in Ferndale. Grab a seat at the counter and you get a bonus with your lunch: watching the cook, who never stops moving, make plate after plate of food. Almost everyone will be a local; the waitress’ll greet them with, “You need to see a menu?” No one will, and she knew that before she asked.

If you are at the end of the counter, you can see this sign on a shelf. I don’t know what it means, but I kind of like the title Beeper Keeper.

Ferndale, California

photographed 7.30.2012