View south from Newport, Highway 1

Our recent 5-day trip over to the Mendocino County coast didn’t exactly go according to plan. We had a series of things go wrong: heavy traffic both going and coming back, road construction all up and down Highway 1, gusty winds, and a bent rim on our rental car. But the trip wasn’t all bad. We took a drive north on Thursday afternoon from Point Arena to Newport (a bit north of Fort Bragg) and found a lot of great scenery — and a couple of happy surprises.

Looking north from Newport

Ever since arriving at the coast, I had been noticing some bright pink flowers growing wild in patches throughout Sonoma and Mendocino counties. They were thick in a few spots, but always just beside the highway. It seemed difficult if not impossible to find a good place to pull over and photograph them or even get a good look. But on this particular day I finally found the perfect spot, only a stone’s throw from Jug Handle Beach, south of Fort Bragg. Even though the flowers weren’t as thick as I’d seen them elsewhere, I could see them on both sides of the road. And I finally managed to identify them: they are Sweet Peas!

Sweet Peas growing alongside a blackberry bush

Sweet peas and Spotted cucumber beetle

Growing across the road

My second bit of good luck happened a little further south, at Albion. You may recall seeing the image below, which I originally shared in December 2022. I’ve been hoping for such a long time to get at least one good photo of the Highland cattle living between the towns of Elk and Albion, and the best I could do was to snap a quick shot with my phone as we drove past.

Roadside Highlander in Elk, CA — December 2022

I’ve only seen them near Elk — until last Thursday, when we stopped at the small Albion Grocery, right on the south edge of town. As we were leaving, I glanced to my left and saw a small group of cattle. I might have just kept going, but the Big Guy urged me to make a U-turn and pull over, so I did! I’m really pleased with the results; although I have to admit this small taste of success makes me want to shoot more images of these adorable Highlanders!

Notice the small bird on the cow’s shoulders (Click to enlarge)