The second half of our vacation to California consisted of two parts. The first part was actually sort of a "side trip" that we decided to make the day before we left San Francisco for Sonoma. This side trip ended up being our favorite part of the whole vacation! We visited beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore--and it was just FABULOUS!
We left San Fran bright and early on the morning of July 4 (Independence Day and the day of our 8th anniversary!) and drove about an hour and fifteen minutes northwest to the park. Upon entry, we immediately were flooded with all of this wonderful wildlife. Notice the fallow deer grazing next to the large tree in the top picture and the little deer family across the road from the park entry sign; it was almost like they were on the payroll for the park as greeters! The overlook picture is of the San Andreas Fault Zone, where you may walk on the Earthquake Trail. We did not walk this trail, as we thought that if an earthquake did occur, we were certainly plenty close enough as it was!
One of the most interesting things about this National Park is the fact that a large chunk of it consists of historic working ranches. In the early 1800s, Mexican land grantees established ranchos and this was followed by a wave of American agricultural farming. The coastal grasslands were turned into a working landscape known as the Pastoral Zone and the area became dotted with cattle and cow ranches. As you may imagine, finding undeveloped seashore in California is extremely rare and while the ranches were struggling to survive in the 1950s and 1960s due to a boon in real estate development, a drastic increase in property taxes, and a decrease in product price, the government saw this as an opportunity to preserve a unique chunk of the coastline by turning it into a National Park.
Another part of Point Reyes is the historical lighthouse. Built in 1870, the need for this structure and service was unquestionable: Point Reyes is the windiest place on the Pacific Coast and the 2nd foggiest place on the North American continent! Though its services have been retired since 1975 with the installment of an automated light, the Coast Guard donated it to the Park Service and they, in turn, have turned it into a museum.
As you can see, in order to get to the lighthouse, you must be willing to walk up and down over 300 very small, steep steps! It was worth it, but it was a workout!
A view descending the stairs and a view showing the long trip back to the top!
What a lonely life it must have been...
Lots of interesting algae, lichen and coastal scrub (which reallly looks all gnarly and rough like desert plants). I know it's hard to see in this picture, but there is a little tree growing from the rock. I believe it is either a bishop pine or a monterey cypress? I forget. It looks like a bonsai!
LOVE the green and purples in this coastal plant.
I have to admit, Mark fared better than I did going up the stairs!
We saw lots of seabirds, but these pelicans were the most willing to have their photos taken! There were flocks of them flying over the pastoral lands, much like Canada geese flocking together here. It was pretty neat.
A skull of a gray whale, which is the type of whale Mark and I saw. We had truly unbelievable luck that day because in the relatively little time we had at this fantastic park, we saw a gray fox, a bobcat, 2 kinds of deer, hoardes of pelicans, and a juvenile gray whale (the park ranger said it was a juvenile because the adults were all out feeding in deeper ocean waters). Can you think of a better way to spend an anniversary AND the 4th of July than being at one of our National Parks?!
Here's the competition, folks, the happy cows from California!
Our drive from Point Reyes to wine country was bright and hot and we enjoyed driving through a more arid environment, observing cacti and rolling fields of gold.
It really was VERY cool driving in this Sonoma-Napa area where there is literally vineyard after vineyard after vineyard of really great wineries (and some not-so-great ones too!). We only actually stopped at three of them. But it was plenty for me! Our first stop was at Madrigal which produces really great, BIG reds, but is a relatively small operation. Mark "wooed" me during our second date by making dinner and serving it with a bottle of Madrigal Petite Syrah. The picture above was taken at our second stop which was another favorite of ours, Caymus. Our last stop was at Pine Ridge which produces some wonderful whites (Conundrum and chenin blancs). This place was beautiful and very welcoming. See pics below.
I think this picture best sums up an afternoon of California winetasting: Enjoying a fresh handmade pizza and couple glasses of wine while sitting outside in a charming town (here we are in Healdsburg) people watching.
A final spur-of-the-moment side trip was to visit Armstrong Redwoods State Park. We actually did this the morning of our winetasting extravaganza, we just left our hotel really early (who wants to sleep-in when traveling anyway?) and drove to this relatively small but nice state park. These trees are definitely old and big, but they're not like the ones in Redwoods National Park. Our timing was great as we seemed to share the park with only one other car. We experienced California budgetry issues however, as a large part of the park was closed down (with signs posted saying it was due to CA parks budget cuts) and we couldn't go to the visitor's center as it opened 3 hours AFTER the partk itself opened!
In order to get this view of the canyon valleys we had to drive up a very narrow, steep, winding, one-lane road. It was quite thrilling.
Although we had an awful time flying back to Wisconsin and some difficulties contending with Californian traffic and roadways, we really did enjoy what we saw and experienced. My thanks goes out to our friends, Marko and Liz who took care of our hounds, and to Judy, Greg and Renee who took care of Britches and Clawed. We couldn't have gone had we not good care for our pets! Thank you!
On a closing note, I would like to say welcome back to Bill and Scott who have returned to the land of milk and honey (that would be Wisconsin) after living in South Korea AND Tuscaloosa, Alabama for a year. They will be now be starting a new chapter of their lives in Menominee and working as students getting degrees and pursuing new careers. We are happy to have you both back. On a "sad" note, which I know is not really sad, my brother John has left the state on a new chapter in his life as a professor of history at New Jersey City University in New Jersey. We are all very proud and excited for Jojo as we know how hard and long he has worked to get to this point. But I will miss him. Wah. His partner, Jim, will be joining him next year. I'll miss him too. Wah wah.
We are happy that we were able to get together before John left.
Scott, Mark and John.
