NOVEMBER 07
We had decided to use Santa Rosa as a base for revisiting the same Point Reyes National Seashore which we had briefly visited on the first full day of our trip, and so we got up in Santa Rosa fully intending to drive the third-odd miles to Point Reyes Station and were rather surprised to find ourselves battling through the rush hour on the Freeway in the sort of thick, dense fog that could only remind me of home.
Of course, it wasn't exactly unexpected. After all, it was November, and coastal California is notorious for its sea fogs, but we hadn't quite imagined that it might appear this far inland. Still, there's always something rather appealing about low-lying mist, and, as we left the Freeway and found ourselves travelling through the coastal hills, we were able to see some beautiful views as we climbed above the cloud line.
Soon afterwards we arrived in Point Reyes Station and parked up, and headed into the Station House Cafe for a very welcoming and very welcome late breakfast, before mooching around what seemed to be a rather pleasant little town which had at least one slightly anachronistic-seeming little nicknack shop that swallowed up more of the Beloved's resources.
Then we drove a little further back down the road to Bear Valley Visitor Center and walked the half-mile "Earthquake Trail" that we had decided against attempting upon the previous Sunday morning.
It wasn't a difficult walk by any means, although the lovely little lad who was walking it with his mother seemed to make it far longer than it needed to be by choosing to cross over the little bridge several times, before taking a short cut (that he obviously knew well) back to the car park. Meanwhile, our version of the walk took a little longer than planned because we found that we were a few yards behind a visiting school party which we were reluctant to overtake, and from which we learned much, even though most of the information was being read out from the helpful boards that were dotted along the trail.
As far as being an "Earthquake Trail" went, it might have been a little disappointing for anyone expecting to be rocked and rolled by the shifting of the earth, or to see the ruins of mighty structures, but, half-way along, you do get to see the fence that was shifted sixteen feet by one of several "Big Ones" which have shaped and shaken the area over the past century, and that is something that makes you stop and think, especially when everything below your feet seems so "rock solid" (whatever that may mean…) and you are standing on the actual and infamous San Andreas Fault, a fault, incidentally, that was reported to be under immense stress at the time of our visit, and liable to shift at any moment.
With that in mind, we returned to the car and headed over to one of the excellent bird watching areas that had been suggested to us the previous Sunday, Abbotts Lagoon.
After driving for about half an hour, we arrived at a fairly deserted car park to find it surrounded by thick fog, but, game as ever, we nevertheless walked the mile or so down towards the lagoon itself and enjoyed a fun couple of hours spotting lots of birds including seabirds, waders and raptors in the fog, before heading back to the car park just before the fog began to clear and reveal to us just how close to the Pacific Ocean we'd been.
A couple sitting on a bench as we got back reliably informed us that there were other sights to be seen further towards the coast, and so we set off, only to turn back fifteen minutes later as the road deteriorated and the fog closed in on us again.
However, this "missed opportunity" was not completely a waste of time because we managed to spot several birds of prey just sitting on the fence posts as we travelled back along that long, lonely, and rather mist-shrouded road, some of which even paused for long enough for us to take a snapshot or two of them wondering quite what it is that we strange humans were up to.
And so, after actually having one of those "bird watching" days that we'd sort of planned the entire holiday around, we booted up "Min" and headed back towards our motel in Santa Rosa, stopping on the way at the Mall - a sudden burst of "civilisation" which did not sit at all well with our day in the great outdoors - and settled for a meal in "Mary's Pizza Shack" in which I, perhaps strangely, failed completely to order a pizza.
Soon afterwards we arrived in Point Reyes Station and parked up, and headed into the Station House Cafe for a very welcoming and very welcome late breakfast, before mooching around what seemed to be a rather pleasant little town which had at least one slightly anachronistic-seeming little nicknack shop that swallowed up more of the Beloved's resources.Then we drove a little further back down the road to Bear Valley Visitor Center and walked the half-mile "Earthquake Trail" that we had decided against attempting upon the previous Sunday morning.
It wasn't a difficult walk by any means, although the lovely little lad who was walking it with his mother seemed to make it far longer than it needed to be by choosing to cross over the little bridge several times, before taking a short cut (that he obviously knew well) back to the car park. Meanwhile, our version of the walk took a little longer than planned because we found that we were a few yards behind a visiting school party which we were reluctant to overtake, and from which we learned much, even though most of the information was being read out from the helpful boards that were dotted along the trail.
As far as being an "Earthquake Trail" went, it might have been a little disappointing for anyone expecting to be rocked and rolled by the shifting of the earth, or to see the ruins of mighty structures, but, half-way along, you do get to see the fence that was shifted sixteen feet by one of several "Big Ones" which have shaped and shaken the area over the past century, and that is something that makes you stop and think, especially when everything below your feet seems so "rock solid" (whatever that may mean…) and you are standing on the actual and infamous San Andreas Fault, a fault, incidentally, that was reported to be under immense stress at the time of our visit, and liable to shift at any moment.
After driving for about half an hour, we arrived at a fairly deserted car park to find it surrounded by thick fog, but, game as ever, we nevertheless walked the mile or so down towards the lagoon itself and enjoyed a fun couple of hours spotting lots of birds including seabirds, waders and raptors in the fog, before heading back to the car park just before the fog began to clear and reveal to us just how close to the Pacific Ocean we'd been.A couple sitting on a bench as we got back reliably informed us that there were other sights to be seen further towards the coast, and so we set off, only to turn back fifteen minutes later as the road deteriorated and the fog closed in on us again.
However, this "missed opportunity" was not completely a waste of time because we managed to spot several birds of prey just sitting on the fence posts as we travelled back along that long, lonely, and rather mist-shrouded road, some of which even paused for long enough for us to take a snapshot or two of them wondering quite what it is that we strange humans were up to.And so, after actually having one of those "bird watching" days that we'd sort of planned the entire holiday around, we booted up "Min" and headed back towards our motel in Santa Rosa, stopping on the way at the Mall - a sudden burst of "civilisation" which did not sit at all well with our day in the great outdoors - and settled for a meal in "Mary's Pizza Shack" in which I, perhaps strangely, failed completely to order a pizza.
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