Our Precious Memories

June 13, 2015 Birthday Destination: Bodega Bay, California!

Typical Sonoma County Farmland and Rolling Hills on the Way to the Coast

Bodega Bay

HITCHCOCK SIGHTINGS at Bodega Country Store! :-)

The Birthday Girls

They say Hitch always had a thing for blondes (wink wink! ;-)

Bodega Quaintness

The Beautiful Bodega Countryside

Caspian Tern Rides the Wind Over Bodega Bay

Osprey Flight

Seagull :-)

The Dramatic Bodega Head Coastal Scenery (and icy June winds!)

Colors of the Bodega Headlands

On the Way to Mendocino Along the California Coast

The historic tiny town (pop. 500?) of Stewarts Point, named after the Stewart family, who moved to the area in 1856. Imagine, some of these buildings were built at the time of the Civil War!

Back on the Road!

Gualala

Sarah "On Location" :-) in Gualala

Being on the road in California means no small amount of time and tension given to convenience hunting ... like treasure hunting ... there are no guarantees ...

Point Arena Lighthouse

We thought this raven should have been back in Bodega Bay!

Happy Harbor Seals! Wonder what they're dreaming? :-)

Next Stop: Victorian Mendocino!

Love these "Fried Egg" Flowers found all over Mendocino (and most of the northern coast.)

The Matilija Poppy is called the "Queen of California Flowers" as it is a real eye-catcher!

1878 Mendocino Victorian Home in June Gloom Mist

Most of the historic homes (dates noted on fence or structure) have been converted to Bed & Breakfast lodging, and are booked year round.

This 1882 Mendocino Victorian displays the characteristic converted water tower addition.

Unique to Mendocino is famous for its water towers. Built to provide water to the town at the end of the end of the 1800s, they now provide extra living space and Bed & Breakfast rental space for Mendocino home owners. Some are still in use, however, as Mendocino has no central water supply. Before electricity, windmills pumped the water up to the towers. Built in 1879, the oldest standing water tower is noted to be the yellow tower on the south side of Ukiah Street.

This doe went on high alert when we walked by. We found out why when her hidden fawn popped up from a patch of tall grasses!

Cormorant and Seagull Rookeries on Mendocino Headlands

Mendocino Bay, Common Murre (Uria aalge) or Common Guillemot is a large Auk. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land to breed on rocky cliff shores or islands. Their underwater "flight" is quite remarkable. They typically dive to depths of nearly 600 feet.

Creatures Climbing Up Out of the Ocean???

The Little Town of Caspar

On the way to Point Cabrillo Light Station

Deer roam throughout the tiny town of Caspar ... popping up from the tall native grasses ... and from behind fences that bordered the quaint homes ... like so many garden pets!

Point Cabrillo Light Station c. 1909

Nosy She Is...

Mom peering in the window of the historic Point Cabrillo Light Station, five miles south of Fort Bragg on the northern coast of California. Built in 1909 to guide masted schooners transporting lumber, it is one of the best restored light stations in America.

Although today it houses a gift shop, this is still a working light station. With its 100-year-old British-built Fresnel Lens, Point Cabrillo Lighthouse operates as a Federal Aid to Navigation.

Point Cabrillo Light Station may nag at your memory ... seem vaguely familiar. That's because this iconic structure has been seen in many movies and television programs. Forever Young with Mel Gibson and The Majestic with Jim Carrey are among the many movies filmed in picturesque Mendocino County, as well as the television series Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury, all which featured this beautiful and quaint lighthouse.

Our Destination ... for Several Days ... Fort Bragg, CA

Our hotel left much to be desired (haha) but the views were awesome!

Lots of busy baby birds! Above, baby Boat-tailed Grackles ... Below, a baby Brewer's Blackbird

And there's always seagulls! Here a juvenile poses for its portrait.

MacKerricher Beach was extraordinary! The miles(?) of boardwalks through cypress groves and viewing platforms over the rugged coastline, and the colors of the ocean in the cove ... just spectacular!

Beach Artifacts ... vertebrae from something ... and (brain coral?)

And then there's this...

(The above was just FAKE NEWS :-)

Now this, was extremely cool! An entire beach of SEA GLASS!!!

A true trash to treasure story, this beach full of tumbled glass began as a dump site for the Union Lumber Company in 1906!

Mom found it interesting to find a sign with the name of a friend (Cleone) who has since passed.

Our tireless driver and SHLEPPER...

(Trying to explain to his little squirrel friend why he can't give him a nut ... because of the draconian and inane California wildlife restrictions ... he could be fined thousands of dollars and the little varmint gets the death penalty ... yeesh! You can see it had quite a depressing effect on the little guy :-(

We loved the Fort Bragg area and there was much more to see, but it was back on the road for us!

On to the Arboreal Giants ...

The Coastal Humboldt Redwoods!

It was hard not to feed our entire lunch to these stunning Stellar's Jays just to keep them around!

Allen's Chipmunk (Neotamias-senex) Probably the most adorable creatures in the Humboldt Redwoods!

Bullfrogs ... not so adorable ... but nicely colored :-)

Back on the road after lunch, continuing north...

...to Eureka!

Eureka (and especially Ferndale, where The Majestic was filmed) have many historic and lovely Victorian homes.

Hundreds of lumber mills once existed in northern California, with this city playing a leading role in the historic West Coast lumber trade. The entire city is a state historic landmark, which has hundreds of significant Victorian homes, including the nationally recognized Carson Mansion, and the city has retained its original 19th-century commercial core as a nationally recognized Old Town Historic District.

Time was growing short ... we needed to press on! After a drive by the port at Humboldt Bay and the historic homes district, we continued north to...

Trinidad!

Mom at the top of the harbor bluff by Trinidad Head Light, built in 1871.

Trinidad is one of the oldest incorporated cities in California. The first post office opened in Trinidad in 1851.

LOTS of nature in Trinidad to keep Sarah clicking!

Pelagic Cormorants Courting! (And cool succulents growing out of the cliff face :-)

Sea Stars Climbing Out Of the Ocean!

Seagull With Fresh Catch of the Day!

Time To Go Home ... :-(

But wait, there's more!

ONE MORE STOP ... Just a drive through, but still, it's ...

Point Reyes National Seashore!!!

Tomales Bay is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, formed by the San Andreas Fault, separating the Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland of Marin County.

"The dark, surging waters and treacherous crags of Point Reyes have commanded fear and respect from generations of sailors. These treacherous waters conceal the remains of ships whose crews were unwary, overconfident, or merely unfortunate. Standing on the bluffs and overlooks along the Point, it is worth taking a moment to reflect on these wrecks and what they mean to us. More than just a silent memory of past tragedies, shipwrecks are time capsules, moments of maritime history, captured by fate and waiting at the bottom of the sea to tell their stories." Learn more: http://bit.ly/2smdsVr

Point Reyes Tule Elk Grazing Along the Road in Our Ever-Present June Gloom

The tule elk herds had virtually disappeared by 1860, 13 years before the state awarded them complete protection. In the spring of 1978, two bulls and eight cows were brought in from the San Luis Island Wildlife Refuge near Los Banos. The elk were contained within a temporary, three acre enclosure to allow for adjustment to their new surroundings. That summer, 6 of the cows bore calves. In the fall, 17 elk were released from the enclosure on Tomales Point to 1,050 hectares (2,600 acres) of open grassland and coastal scrub. By the summer of 1988, the population was at 93 animals. The population census taken in 2000 counted over 400 elk. In 2009, over 440 were counted at Tomales Point, making the the Point Reyes herds one of the largest populations in California. Learn More: http://bit.ly/2roQFn2

On the way out off the peninsula, we found a family of California Quail (Callipepla californica) foraging. They would have remained utterly camouflaged in the chaparral if not for dad's distinct alert. Gambel's Quail of the Desert Southwest are quite different in color and marking and they do not overlap in territory.