We are at Half Moon Bay. It is later than
we thought but Highway 1 is VERY curvy and it takes time going back and forth
along those hairpin turns and switchbacks, but what views-sheer cliffs, rocks
both humongous and small sticking straight up out of the churning waters. The waters varied from green to blue/green to
brownish near the shore, some with whitecaps so they looked a bit “angry.”
When we left our campsite this AM, we
stopped to take pictures of their “Stump Tree.”
It is gorgeous, literally a small “cabin” build on TOP of a redwood
stump. It had stained glass windows, and
wooden shakes and shingles. It looked
new so perhaps they are upgrading some of their accommodations to include
sleeping in a tree! LOVE IT!
We started our day literally at the
beginning of the Avenue of the Giants.
Like everything else on this trip, it is so hard to describe them and
pictures don’t do them justice. Redwood
trees that tower and tower even higher.
They are so wide you can’t even reach around them and many, many of them
are hundreds of years old. We maneuvered
through them, mouths dropped open for most of the miles through. We sat in some, climbed up some, attempted to
drive in some, but our new truck is just a bit too wide, and we’d have only had
a couple of inches to spare on one and none on the other.
One thing we didn’t think of was to get
gas before we started to meander through the hills. We wrongly assumed there would be gas here
and there, but the towns here and there were SO small they didn’t offer gas.
One station did but the lines were LONG!!
We looked at our truck gauge, telling us we had plenty until E, and then
headed in. Miles in we began to rethink
as the truck began to rethink. I guess
it depends on if you are going up or down hills and everything else. We did finally find gas at a small mom and
pop shop in Westport. It as expensive
but it turns out that there weren’t any gas stations beyond that town, so we
made a good call to go ahead and get it.
In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t add up to that
much. We supported the local cause by
buying some local cheese (with onions and chives and garlic—very tasty!).
We have seen several lighthouses already,
and we got in a couple today. The first was Point Cabrillo near Mendocino. It was actually a functioning light and not a
typical looking one as it was painted clapboard and not really that tall.
Our second one was one we were actually
anxious for as we could walk up to the top---115 feet! That one was the Port Arena
Light near Port Arena! It was very tall,
the tallest on the West coast, and it was a working one but not with a Fresnel
lens. The view from the top was
spectacular as it was 360--pastures with cows, the river, the ocean, the bays
and some eroding cliffs! She said they
only lose about ½ - 1 inch per year but it all adds up and they are already
thinking about 60-70 years in the future as they will most likely have to move
the lighthouse.
We popped into Port Arena for a couple of
cups of chowder-Andrew had the Manhattan Chorizo and I had the Thai. Yes, they are not traditional but they were
both winners of the recipe contest put on by the Whales and Jazz festival. The Thai was the winner for this year and the
Manhattan Chorizo was from last year. Yummy. While here we had our first cat
sighting. EVERYONE has dogs, and I’ve
heard cats in various campgrounds but this was our first real one. It was pretty concentrated on something in
the flowerbed so we just snapped a quick picture and let it be.
Actually then I drove. Andrew’s been doing the bulk of the
driving. I do offer but when we stop to
get gas or if nature calls, or we hike/bike/kayak, we’ve had a break and Andrew
just lands up driving. I do enjoy
driving but I had to remember that this truck is bigger than the jeep, and we
have the hitch hanging off the back with bikes!
Back and forth, back and forth.
We passed fields that got browner and browner the more south we
came. I have no idea how the cows,
horses, and sheep survive!! They did have
some sprinkling going on in some of the fields that looked like hay fields, and
some brown fields had spots of dropped hay in them that the animals were
gathered around, munching away.
I actually then drove over the Golden Gate
Bridge, and we parked at Baker Beach to watch the sunset. We didn’t know if we’d ever make it as we
were stopped right before town for about 20 minutes. Apparently a LONG semi was
stuck in the ditch around a turn and we had to wait for him to get it out. But we did and there were so many clouds we
were just going to leave. I happened to
look up and the sun just peaked out (sort of clouded over but the sun just the
same!) and we got to see it sink into the horizon! We love sunsets over the ocean; they never
fail to give you that sense of Ahhhhh for the end of the day.
Back into the truck and I was still
driving. Truth be told, I have NEVER
driven out here on the big roads. I have
driven a side street or two. It was not
scary but weird driving the 1 in the dark.
I had to really watch for the turns, as you can’t see very far ahead as
you can in the daylight. But we are
here, listening to the waves crash ashore, ready to call it a night. The weather tomorrow will determine if we are
hiking or biking!
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