Even though I’m eager to share my most recent shots from San Francisco, I also realized that there are loads of earlier photos still waiting to be seen; and I’m so disorganized that I already forgot about them! So this week I’m going back a few months to our trip to Mendocino in October 2023. One of my favorite spots […]
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 […]
Russian Gulch State Park is such a beautiful place to explore, especially on a cool afternoon in October. The sky sent down a light drizzle as I started along the headlands trail, but by the time I had circled back and later headed to the landward side of the park — following the road that crosses beneath Highway 1 — […]
I’ve lived in Northern California all my life, so maybe it’s no surprise that I never really knew about the “world-famous” surf at Trestles in the San Onofre State Beach — although I do remember traveling along Interstate 5 and seeing the cooling towers of the nearby San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant (shut down since 2013). Still, Huell’s enthusiasm is […]
Whenever we’re looking for a place to stay on our coastal trips, we try to find locations where it’s easy to get outside and walk. Not all of the houses we’ve rented fit that criteria, but it’s a definite plus in my book. The shoulders along Highway 1 can be small to nonexistent, and the road itself consists of innumerable […]
We found the tide extremely low when we arrived at Doran County Park (south of Bodega Bay), where we always stop to collect ghost shrimp. Although there seemed to be a surprising number of people using the beach — across the road from where we park — we had the bay side completely to ourselves. I did notice, though, that […]
The loop trail through the Pygmy Forest forms a huge contrast from previous sections of the Ecological Staircase at Jug Handle State Reserve. Leaving behind the deeply shaded coastal redwood path and soft forest floor, I found myself on a narrow boardwalk in full sunlight lying above highly acidic, poorly draining soil. I was surrounded by a profusion of trees […]
The small coastal town of Point Arena has become one of my favorite places to stay and explore the Mendocino coast; and the Big Guy likes it too, because he can reliably find a nice, secluded spot along the shore to cast a line within the Stornetta Public Lands. With miles of trail covering a variety of terrain and beautiful […]