Monday March 3 S.F. to Inverness

(Note: in order to make these posts start at the beginning and go in order, I have to reverse the dates. When you get to the end of a group of days, select "older posts" to continue.)

The purpose of this expedition is to explore the California coast between San Francisco and mid-Oregon. Its the only part of the west coast we have not seen.

We left Boise on United around noon and had an uneventful direct flight to San Francisco. After the usual hassle of getting luggage and the Hertz rental car, we were on our way by 3:00ish. The weather is perfect - bright sun, temps in the low 70s.

Against the advice of our GPS, we took route 101 right through downtown SF, a much more interesting drive than the alternative interstate by-pass. Goal was to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, which is spectacular. There's a viewpoint park as soon as you get other side, then quickly exit the main highway and head up to Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands for more great views of the bridge and SF Bay. This area is in the Golden Gate National Recreation area.

Back down the hill we picked up Route 1, which will be our path for the week as we head north. The road is slow-going and windey but eventually we made our goal of Inverness. The only village we passed through was Stinson Beach. Its interesting how remote-seeming this area is considering its closeness to SF. We're staying the night at a little compound called Point Reyes Cottages. Seems nice enough. A great fish & chips dinner at a little hole in the wall place in a village called Inverness Park called The Tap Room.

Tomorrow we will spend most of the day exploring Point Reyes National Seashore. Sounds like some great wildlife viewing!

Point Reyes

Tuesday Point Reyes on to Bodega Bay

Another beautiful, sunny day although by afternoon very hazy, maybe a slight fog from the ocean? Our room at the Point Reyes Cottages was OK! Its a compound-like place with some family friendly amenities.

After a dried up muffin and half a banana for breakfast, we headed off to explore Point Reyes National Seashore. (We had the other half for lunch!) We headed for the lighthouse first. Its a pretty long drive down the length of the peninsula. Curvy and bumpy all the way!  As advertised, the lighthouse sits at the bottom of 300 steps! We had never intended to do that, but it was closed anyway. The lighthouse is a spectacular view! On the other side of the "fork" of the peninsula we walked out to an Elephant Seal view point! Ugly beasts!  On our way we detoured up to the top of Vision Hill (1200'). We found a few good views but the road was closed at the top. (Woulda been nice if they'd said that at the bottom!)

We then drove back to Inverness and went the other way up to the Pierce Point Ranch. The whole of Point Reyes is quite remote, almost desolate! Some one called it "frontier". If one comes to explore, be sure to bring your snacks, water and gas - you won't find anything out here. Most of the land is used for cattle ranching or dairy farms. A number of ranches date back to the 1850s, when San Francisco had become a boom town during the gold rush. There is no agriculture, only cows. There is also a resident herd of Tule Elk, which were re-introduced n 1978. It is said that Sir Francis Drake landed here to repair his boat on his round-the-world adventure around 1580.

We left the park in mid-afternoon, retraced our path back to Rt 1, and headed north to Bodega Bay. We found our room at the Bodega Bay Inn (a quirky little place, but fine) a little after 4:00. We explored this little town which is primarily a commercial fishery with a large marina of working boats. We took the road up to the top of the point for a spectacular view of the rugged coastline.

Dinner at the Fishatarian! Great fried fish sandwiches.

We'll continue to head north on Rt 1 tomorrow, but with no particular destination.

Wed North to Mendocino

We had a heck of a time finding a place for breakfast! Bodega Bay doesn't have much to offer anyway, but being here in what is still off-season, the "go to" breakfast place was closed. We ended up at the dining room at The Tides, a fancy resort. After breakfast we poked around the marina for a bit before hitting the road. We learned that Bodega Bay was the location for the Hitchcock movie "The Birds"! Another sunny day although a bit more hazy/foggy.

From Bodega Bay up to about Salt Point (xxx miles) the road stays close to the ocean and offers many places to view the rocky coastline, mostly as parts of Sonoma Coast State Beach. From that point on, all the way up to Point Arena, there is no access! The windy road hugs the cliffs with twists and turns. We pass through a place called Sea Ranch, which we found was a large planned community going back to the 60s. The ONLY real town we come through today was Gualala. We found a grocery store that provided stale pizza slices or lunch.

Our best stop of the day came further north at Point Arena where we toured the lighthouse. The original tower, built in the 1870s, was destroyed in the earthquake of 1906. The current tower is the replacement which was decommissioned in the 1970s. The complex is now owned and maintained by a non-profit. I straggled up the 150 steps to the top for a fantastic view.

After Point Arena, following up on a review we had read, we took a "scenic route" inland on an unnamed road up and over the mountains to Boonville. Then north on rt 128 through Anderson Valley and back to the coast. This valley was home to acres and acres of wine grapes and wineries, along with some apple orchards. Then the road passes through some impressive Redwoods.

After a walk on a beach, we arrived in the tourist town on Mendocino by 5:00. We didn't have advance reservations so we ended up at the Blue Door B&B. Very nice and within walking distance of everything. The town is noted for its Victorian homes and false-fronted Main St buildings,  a la the Old West. We walked to dinner at Patterson's Pub.

Tomorrow we continue north.