The Lost Whale Inn

By Bernard Bass | Photos by H.R. LoBue

Surrounded by Redwoods and flanked by a lush collision of the Cascade and Coastal ranges, Trinidad is a cliff-side settlement handsomely carved from the dangerously charming waters of the Pacific Northwest. Trinidad boasts to be one of the smallest incorporated cities in California. There are also claims of the area having the cleanest air quality in North America. Of course, like many statistics that erupt from the world-wide-web and other such easily obtained sources of information, all classifications are arguable. Every town and city in the country, incorporated or not, has its own set of proud numbers and statistics that are used to attract people to the area in which they celebrate as the best place on earth. Numbers are often fluffed and statistics are constantly projected and rounded up. These innocent flourishes are understandable and even endearing, for who that truly loves where they live does not want others to experience the breadth in which they see it themselves?

We all are prone to being wrapped in semantics and argument. In a place such as Humboldt County, California, where there is an undisputable beauty in and around every corner, it seems to be getting harder and harder to accept and appreciate the fact that our area is exactly just that – beautiful. This area is, arguably, a lifestyle, not an argument, and there is a place that, every single day, quietly shouts the same sentiment.

There are points or places in one’s life that take a sort of precedence over others; pertinent situations tend to overshadow others and there are moments that seem to engulf all of the rest. If you are lucky or present enough to be able to get yourself to the Lost Whale Inn, this Bed and Breakfast will take care of the rest.

In the 1920’s, the site where the inn currently sits was known as Anderson’s Cafe and Service Station. It was a place to chat with friends while filling up on petrol, fresh berry pie, and clam chowder. Present day, The Lost Whale Inn is still your One-Stop-Shop.

Located in Trinidad, California on two acres of manicured land and eight acres of cliff and ocean beach property, The Lost Whale Inn is a Bed and Breakfast that goes far beyond what is normally expected of most other B&Bs. Aside from the obvious draw of a comfortable room on the edge of an ocean cliff, a stay at the inn comes complete with a sauna and a cliff-side Jacuzzi. There is a complimentary bar in the Great Room where meals and snacks are served and S’mores are offered for the cliff-side fire pit.  On almost every windowsill sits a pair of binoculars to spot a whale, watch the seals bark on the jutting ocean rocks or just take in the panoramic seascape. If you think that sweating it out in an intimate sauna or maneuvering yourself around the multiple jets of a Jacuzzi while taking in a Pacific sunset is yesterday’s news, then massages are available in the rooms or on the grounds upon request. And if all of this is still not enough, there is a path that leads from the top of the cliff to a private ocean beach. Take a bottle of wine or two. Sit for hours and watch the crabs swirl in the tide pools and curious deer walk about the shores. For miles, as far as the eye can see, there is not a soul; the beach is yours.

When it comes to comparing a stay at an ordinary lodging to a luxury bed and breakfast, it pretty much stops there; luxury bed and breakfasts such as The Lost Whale Inn are assumed to be of an expense set aside for the upper crust. Not true. The innkeepers and staff love to cook and every Thursday through Sunday, until the 31st of March, the inn is offering a Two Tickets to Temptation special: “Wine, Dine & Unwind.” Included is a gourmet dinner, afternoon wine reception, complimentary bar service, Jacuzzi, sauna, and a seven course buffet breakfast. When compared to the charges for lodging and a separate expense for meals alone, The Lost Whale Inn, with its many heavenly cliff-side amenities, is by far a more attractive deal.

All that is offered is enough to allow each guest to experience a number of different scenarios. However it is decided for a stay here to be shaped, be prepared to encounter gourmet meals and rich, homemade desserts prepared from local and organic products and fresh produce from the cliff-side garden. There’s artfully crafted salads with homemade dressings, and local wild-caught halibut with homemade tartar sauce. There’s the rosemary goat cheese cheesecake drizzled with honey and the apple spice cake with cognac buttercream frosting, and the watermelon basil sorbet. After dinner, pour yourself a glass of port or a single-malt scotch. In front of the fire, laze on a sofa in the Great Room while you watch the sun set over the Pacific and listen to one of the inn’s proprietor play Chopin on the baby grand. What at once seems like a fairy tale, the staff and fellow guests of The Lost Whale in make an art out of presenting your own little slice of heaven as so very and comfortably real.

Located only minutes from Patrick’s Point and Redwood National Park, The Lost Whale Inn is a perfect destination when either continuing a trip up and down the Northwest coast or planning the many possible day trips in and around the area. To the folks that are lucky enough to have a place such as this in their backyard: Eat it up and be pampered where you live.

We all, on occasion, live in disagreeable times and most of our outlooks are deserved and understood but, because there is nothing to argue about once arriving at The Lost Whale Inn, you may be comfortably and swiftly forced to cease questioning intention. The Lost Whale Inn is an extraordinary Bed and Breakfast; a kind and genuinely amenable one-stop-shop that gives you no choice but to let the cynicism slide and have the time of your life.