Between weak wifi signals and just being plain tired, the trip home post had to wait until we actually got home. We left LA Saturday after the conference and decided to take Highway 101 to San Francisco. We were in no big hurry. Good thing. I-5 would take us up the center of California, east of San Francisco, and there didn’t seem to be much of interest along the way according to the map. In theory, it should have been faster, but evidently everyone else in the greater Los Angeles area thought so too. Three hours to Santa Barbara--about 65 miles. I don’t know where everybody went after that, but we pretty much had the road to ourselves until we got to Fisherman’s Wharf.
The first stop was the San Miguel Mission. You come off the freeway and there it is, literally at the bottom of the ramp. There isn’t a lot of the original mission left, but the five bell tower and blossoming cactus made it a very worthwhile stop.
We continued upon Highway 101, which is the old El Camino Real. It’s marked along the highway with mission bells.
The next mission along the way was San Juan Batista,
but the exit the GPS gave us put it at 13 miles off the highway and after burning three hours getting out of Los Angeles, we decided to pass on burning an hour on another mission. Note to self--the GPS way is not the only way. When the sign for the mission came up a little further up the road it was only three miles off the highway and twenty minutes was doable.
After that, it was time to point ourselves towards San Francisco and get to the hotel for the night. We went in via I-280 through San Jose and really did have the road to ourselves even on Memorial Day Weekend. We got off at the airport exit and drove along the bay right to AT&T Park.
Too bad the Giants were in Seattle for the weekend instead of the other way around. We made a couple of quick stops at Fisherman’s Wharf and then stumbled upon another great place to take MORE pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Our original plan was to take Highway 1 up the coast from San Francisco to Coos Bay, but with time becoming a factor, we opted for Highway 101 again. It was a beautiful drive. We didn’t realize we were going through wine country. So much of the drive the day before was through near desert conditions. Sunday was green rolling hills.
We also stumbled upon these scaring looking guys passing the time on these posts. I’ve never been this close to a vulture before. (Don't worry, I was using a zoom lens.)
After the grapes and the vultures, it was into the redwoods. We forked out the five dollars it costs to drive through the tree.
I know it looks like one of us is standing in the middle of the road taking these pictures, but don’t worry, we set the camera for sports photography and took them through the windshield.
If you take enough that way, you can get one or two that are borderline acceptable.
We also found that Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox are still around.
When we got back onto the coast, it was lighthouse time again. Table Bluff Lighthouse sits in the parking lot of the marina in Eureka.
The lighthouse in Trinidad is so difficult to access that the Lion’s Club built one above the bay as a memorial to those lost at sea.
Battery Point Lighthouse is on a large rock in the harbor in Crescent City. At low tide you can walk out to it, but we were there about two and low tide wasn’t until six, so we had to be satisfied with pictures from the mainland.
Twenty-five miles north put us back in Oregon at Brookings. A private residence above the marina has an operating lighthouse that is recognized by the Coast Guard. I’m sure there’s a beautiful view from up there, but of course there are no tours.
Since this is an exceptionally rocky part of the coast, it is just dotted with lighthouses. Just north of Port Orford is the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. We stopped by there in February, but it since it was raining, we just took pictures from the parking lot, but not this time. In twenty-five mile per hour winds and heaven knows what kind of gusts, we bundled up and hiked straight DOWN the hill, then straight UP the hill to the lighthouse. We kept thinking it would be hurricane force winds at the top, but oddly enough, it was calm. The other wonderful thing was that you didn’t have to stand on a cliff to get a view of the back of the lighthouse. (That’s always a plus for me.)
We drove to Bandon for the night and crossed our fingers for a nice sunset at the Coquille River Lighthouse, but a low bank of clouds limited us to a slight pink reflection to the east. Not bad, but not spectacular either.
We got up Monday morning and headed north to Charleston to get a better look at the Cape Arago Lighthouse than we had on that gray day in February. Clear blue skies and low tide made it possible for Dave to hike out and get close.
I took my pictures from a safe distance.
We stopped by the Umpqua River Lighthouse for some blue sky shots to counter the gray day we were there in February.
While we were there, we realized Memorial Day is the beginning of the summer weekend seafood bbqs at the Sportsmen’s Cannery in Winchester Bay.
Fresh chinook salmon and lemonade for lunch was the perfect end to our trip.(Three of those pieces go on one order. Hmmm, hmmm good.)
After that it was time to top off the gas tank, set the GPS for home, and hit the road. We saw so much, but feel like we only scratched the surface. I have a feeling northern California hasn't seen the last of us.
We took our lawn chairs to the park behind the hotel to watch fireworks. Sadly, it was the not the big fireworks display we’ve enjoyed in Vancouver in past years, but tough economic times brought that to a close this year. I think this was the peninsula version of it though. Live music and a beautiful sunset made for an enjoyable night.
on the bridge,
and sitting right down by the water.
It was the first year we’ve spent the 4th somewhere other than in the marina on our sailboat for several years. We kind of missed it, but it’s also nice to try something new.
