Leaving Wright’s Beach

Today we had a nice adventure as we drove down Hwy 1 from Bodega Bay. We hoped to stay near the Point Reyes Lighthouse over night and continue up Hwy 1 tomorrow. However, since we made not plans, the vagabonds we are, there were no sites to even camp near the lighthouse. I decided I didn’t want to go up inside it bad enough to drive 35 miles each way to do so. We continued down Hwy 1. What fantastic views, even if it is a bit of “white knuckle” drive. Tomales Bay, Bolinas Lagoon, then Stinson Beach… All lovely, but on we went. Finally we were almost to where Hwy 1 joins Hwy 101! We joined there just a few miles before the Golden Gate Bridge. We thought about trying to stay at Marin Headlands then we read no pets were allowed and one needed a reservation far in advance, nix that idea too! However, we did have some fantastic views of the city. Unfortunately there was no place to park until we found this one area and we were able to get this nice photo shown below. On we went through San Francisco, I was surprised how little traffic there was. We opted to head to Half Moon Bay tonight in hopes that the State Campground might have some availability. No such luck but we were fortunate to find a spot available at Half Moon Bay RV and Campground. It is not much and expensive, but a place stop, eat our dinner and head south tomorrow.

Along Hwy 1

Bolinas Lagoon

Stinson Beach

The Casita and The Golden Gate

Crossing the Golden Gate

Wright’s Beach Day 7

Today when we went to take our shower at Bodega Dunes we saw a fox! It was much too fast to get a photo as it disappeared into the bushes and trees on the hillside. It had a somewhat fluffy reddish tail, so I guess it was a red fox. The fox we saw earlier this year up at the Veterans Home in Yountville looked like a gray fox to me. However, when I tried to figure that out with information online, it said there are very few gray foxes left in CA. There was even an article stating the excitement of finding a family of them after so many years of not being seen anywhere. Anyway, a fox, gray or red…we saw one today! The sun didn’t make an appearance until afternoon today and then it was only momentary. It has been colder both last night and today. Maybe we’ll use the heater tonight. We had our nice steak lunch today at camp. After that we played cards and then went in search of the internet! We go my hotspot turned on and sat on a bluff checking email, a quick look at Facebook, and posted the blog for the last 6 days. We looked around Bodega Bay a little bit, bought some more clam chowder, and headed back to camp. We couldn’t even see the sunset due to the dense fog. In fact, we couldn’t even see the water! It wasn’t all that cold until the sun went down. I imagine we will break camp in drippy fog tomorrow morning!

Lunch

No “Sun” in our Sunset Tonight

Wright’s Beach Day 6

We woke up to fog this morning, no sun at all. However, it is not cold. Because of the fog John ate breakfast inside. It is nice we have that option with the little table we can set up simply between the beds. It’s great for playing cards when it is windy too! It was a relaxing day but I must admit I am missing contact to the outside world. It didn’t seem prudent to pick today to go into town since it is Saturday and there are a lot more people on the beach as well. The morning walk was still pretty nice and secluded. It is abandoned enough that Tony can enjoy some quality time off his leash, he loves it. The rock Janice and I saw with all the mussels on it was now surround by water. John and I have both finished 3 books so far!

Wright’s Beach Day 5

This morning’s treat was dolphins! I could hardly believe my eyes! I guess I didn’t think there are dolphins in this cold water. John and Tony had left for the beach already while I did a little “housework” so I did my best to run down to the beach so they could see them as well. We did see them several times, what a treat, even if my photos are not so great! We spent the remainder of the day relaxing, fixing our meals, reading, playing cards, plus waiting and watching for more dolphins! There must be a lot of fish in the water here as the birds were at it again tonight. Quite a show. Sadly we have realized how out of shape we are - the approximate 4 miles we walked on Wednesday made our calves sore!!! We need to get back to the gym!

Dolphins

Another Evening Feeding Frenzy

Wright’s Beach Day 4

Instead of using up the water in our trailer we went over to Bodega Dunes Campground and used the showers there. This was the plan as there are no showers at Wright’s Beach. As we were leaving there we saw a small buck. He was pretty leery of us but I did get a partial photograph. After doing that we prepared for Mom and Janice’s arrival. I wanted to get a few appetizer items in addition to the clam chowder we got at the Tides. We first went to Diekmann’s Market and then to the Tides fish market section. These are the only two places to buy items in town. Remember town is just 900+ people! Anyway, we came back and got things ready for Mom and Janice. We were so happy to see them roll in right about noon. We enjoyed our meal together. Then Mom rested and Janice and I took a nice walk on the beach. It was a lovely day. We hated to see them leave. It did cool off a lot after the sun went down. Sadly it took Mom and Janice over 2 hours to get back to Mom’s with a lot of traffic!

Wright’s Beach Day 3

Today we went to Fort Ross. After John ate his breakfast and I packed our lunch we were set to go. It is only 12-14 miles but it took a while. There is road work going on with a stop like set up so one has to wait for the one way traffic. It was a nice drive, it is sunny and nice today. The weather is perfect. There is a nice Visitor Center at the Fort. It has many displays and a short, continuous running movie about the fort and surrounding area. From the Visitor Center it is a short walk to the fort itself. There is a nice little numbered map to explain what you are looking at. Only one of the buildings is still an original, it still has a couple apple trees next to it as well. Most of the buildings were relocated to the Sacramento area when John Sutter bought the fort before it became an Historical Landmark. We had a nice visit there. It was quite interesting and I am glad it is preserved. Apparently they have Russian Festivals here, maybe once a year, I'm not sure. No dogs allowed but it was nice and cool so Tony was fine in his kennel in the car. We set him free and had our lunch on one of the many picnic tables provided. After our lunch we headed south toward our campsite. We took a short drive to the Vista Point and took the 1 mile loop walk. We thought Tony would be happy to walk but he seemed hot and rested in the shade at every opportunity. We hoped to have phone service in Jenner, but that was not the case. We drove on to Goat Rock and down to the beach parking. We saw another even larger feeding frenzy on this beach. The Pelicans were going crazy, there must have been 100’s of them. I tried to take a video but I don't really know how to use that feature on my new camera. I can take the video and play it on the camera but I am unable to use it after that. There is a learning curve with anything new. We walked around there for a little while then headed south again. We called Mom just before driving down to our campsite. The reception was pretty good. Another beautiful sunset, this time with a little bit of a rainbow in the clouds as well.

Original Building

Goat Rock

A Rainbow in the Clouds

Our Camping Buddy

Wright’s Beach Day 2

We had a cozy night in the trailer, no need for the heater at all. Early on it was foggy but sun was out by 7:30a with lovely views from our bed! We had a delightful and relaxing day here at camp. What a luxury to sit and lie around reading all day. The views were even impressive when the fog rolled in. It was much cooler tonight than it was last night. We decided to forego the walk to the beach for the sunset since the wind was blowing so hard. There is another Casita in the campground tonight.

Who wants more than this view for breakfast?

Pelican Feeding Frenzy