2016 Coast Tour- Part 2
Well, to continue our trip down the coast, stopping at lighthouses and points of interest that we've passed on before. Traveling through the redwoods along 101, taking the Drury and Avenue of the Giants side roads. The photos above span the trip down to Leggit where we take CA Rt 1 to just north of Westport, CA to our trip's end-point at Howard Creek Ranch, just across the highway from the Westport-Union Landing State Beach.
A part of this drive that we enjoy, maybe me more than Cathy due to her tendency towards motion sickness, down Rt 1 from 101 to the Mendocino coast. After you leave 101 you are confronted with a curve warning sign advising 25 MPH. Just after that one you hit another "S" curve sign with the note, next 22 miles, and that's no lie. Some day we may get a Go-Pro and set it on one of the cargo bars just to record this section of road. It reminds us of the strada in the Silla mountains in Calabria. The trick is to stay in your lane, which is easy if you watch your speed.
At first we were really concerned because some fool had a 30 -35 foot travel trailer tied to a pickup headed downhill just in front of us. There are advisories that no vehicles w/ over 30 feet, king-pin to bumper, use this road and this thing exceeded it. He could not hold his lane, encroaching into the uphill lane on almost every curve. Thank the road gods that he took the first turnout, about 2 miles into the descent and we got around him. I pity all the vehicles coming up that we saw on our way down. I'm sure several had rude surprises on the tight curves.
Here are some shots from Westport to Fort Bragg along Rt 1 included, especially the one of the "tunnel of trees" just north of Fort Bragg. We spent 2 nights at Howard Creek and headed into Ft. Bragg for a day trip of sightseeing. There's a nice state park, McKerricher State Park and Marine conservation area. The park has a gray whale skeleton just inside the front entrance. We were lucky in that we hit the park on a free day for day use. I guess the post-Labor Day attendance isn't high enough to warrant charging. Most of the photos above are from the park. There's a boardwalk out to the "beach". Unfortunately the tide was too high and the wind too strong to take advantage of the areas tide pools. The really good ones were still under water or constantly being pounded by surf. The one problem with our timing was the tides. The lows were not cooperating.
Since the ranch only serves breakfast you have to go to Westport or Fort Bragg for dinner and lunch. Luckily, the Westport Hotel was open and the restaurant was too, after a couple years of closure. The Old Abalone Pub is open at this writing, but may not be open much longer this year since the tourist trade falls off this time of the year. We readily recommend this place. Excellent food with a short, but good, wine list. It'll be a loss to this area if it doesn't have the customer base to stay open. I feel that if the folks in Fort Bragg were as particular about their dinner choices as we are there should be enough folks willing to travel the 12 miles to frequent this place.
In Fort Bragg there are a couple decent places to eat. One stands out. The Cafe Verona had excellent Italian food and a real good wine list. If the Old Abalone isn't available, head into town and try this place.
In Fort Bragg there's a tourist "attraction", Glass Beach. It attracts folks who wander the coast line looking for sea-washed glass fragments that are everywhere. You aren't supposed to pick up the glass but folks ignore the rules, not too surprising. One couple who was looking to get some had second thoughts when we informed them that these are not remnants of Japanese fishing floats. A short web search would have informed them that these are simply remains of bottles from a city dump that used to be on this end of the McKerricher Marine area. Nothing like picking up old trash, but it's ironic that you are not allowed to remove the beach site namesakes.
Enough for now. Got to help put together something for the HOA end-of-the-summer barbeque/pool party. Don't think anyone's intentionally going swimming today since it's only 62 degrees.
Ciao for now.