Although the summer was not really hot in Las Vegas by Las Vegas standards, we decided that some seashore time would make the summer even cooler. So we decided to spend our vacation at Point Reyes National Seashore. We took some other stops along the way. I wanted to visit the new John Steinbeck Center in Salinas and we spent a few days visiting my mother in Oroville, CA, getting there by way of the Sonoma and Napa Valleys.
We broke the long drive up from Las Vegas to Point Reyes into two days. That way, we could make some leisurely stops along the way. We traveled faster than we though we would, so the first early stop was the Mission of San Juan Bautista. The mission and the town that built up around and after it is well preserved. There are plenty of wagons, fire trucks, coaches and farm implements from the period of 1800-1900 preserved there. The house built by The Mexican Governor Jose Castro is a state park now. It is preserved as if the Breen family, that added on an adobe after American possession of California, is still living there. From there, we went on to our motel in Salinas.
We spent the next morning exploring the recently opened John Steinbeck Center in downtown Salinas. It seems that the town appreciates John Steinbeck much better now that he has been dead for over 20 years. The museum is very well done, with a lot of interactive exhibits. The Center runs a lot of events relating directly or peripherally to Steinbeck throughout the course of the year. Having joined the Center, we get notice of them quite often. The Center is well worth a visit, particularly if you can time it with an even such as the revival of one of the films of his work and the concurrent discussions of the work.
From Salinas we drove north, through San Francisco (it is always nice to be there, no matter how brief the visit. I even prolonged the visit by missing a turnoff for US 101. We drove through the Marin Headlands to Highway 1, making it a leisurely afternoon drive to Point Reyes Station and our B&B
The first thing we did after checking into our B&B was to find a place where we could get into a kayak and get out onto the bay. The afternoon was cloudy and not too hot, so being on the bay was pretty pleasant. We paddled about two miles down the shore. We passed plenty of nice houses on the cliff and a couple of beaches that were fairly small and secluded. We saw a greater white heron fishing along the shore. He was wary of us, but did not move until we got too close. We passed some nice rock formations eroded by wave action. We probably got as far as Duck Cove before we turned around. The state park had a small beach that was not very crowded on a weekday afternoon.
After the two miles we tired and turned around, enjoying all of the sights again. The heron was gone, but we saw a golden eagle's nest high above us on the way back. The bay was pretty quiet, very enjoyable.
The next day we drove to Limantour Beach. This was our wildlife day. We saw fallow deer and a number of turkey vultures. They let me get fairly close with the camera because they did not want to abandon the harbor seal carcass they were dining on. We also saw a number of shore birds, including a large flight of pelicans gliding in perfect formation. The drive to the beach takes you from sea level up to about a thousand feet and then back down again. The sandy beach goes on for miles and miles, so crowding was not a problem. You can see from the beach down to Bolinas and Stinson Beach. One activity we participated in on the beach was the fine art of doing nothing. The low clouds or fog came and went; sometimes we could not see anything beyond the nearby hills. At other times, the scene was clear.
Doing nothing was an art we indulged at our B&B as well. It was located on the bluffs south of the bay, overlooking a low, grassy field. Inverness Park was on the other side of the field. Being on a wooded hillside with a grassy field below, both the patio and a lower deck were good for birdwatching. We (particularly Maggie) often spent an early or late hour just sitting, watching the birds fly in and out. A small herd of deer often grazed the filed, sometimes mixing with cattle in the field. A glass of wine in the evening made the sunset even prettier. The hot tub didn't hurt either.
We visited Kule Loklo and the visitor center the next day. The Visitor Center has a fine display of wildlife and an explanation of the geology of the area. The San Andreas Fault runs down the center of Tomales Bay. The land west of the bay will move north and out to sea as time progresses. The area to the east will remain a part of the US. San Francisco is also on the part that might move out to sea. Either that or the fault turns drastically around the city. We followed a trail that led past, among other things, an area where the 1906 earthquake split an area that was fenced. You could see one side of the fence was 20 feet higher and displaced linearly by about the same distance. All this movement occurred in a matter of seconds.
The village of Kule Loklo is a recreated Miwok village with two kinds of houses in it. One kind is pretty much a pit house and the other is a part earth and part wood structure. The second is more spacious and comfortable, but I don't see where they could connect a modem. While the village was empty when we visited, the Native Americans come in at scheduled times and display their craftwork. Basketry and weaving are the most usual crafts.
Later we went out to Abbots Lagoon. The lagoon is filled by creeks, rain and high tides. The lagoon does not open to the ocean; a sand bar or dune separates the lagoon from the ocean. We saw a number of songbirds on the trail to the lagoon. On the lagoon and on the ocean we saw a number of shore birds. We sat for a while on the shore, enjoying the waves, eating a late lunch. The sky was foggy and hazy; sometimes you could see the area near Tomales Point, sometimes you could not. On the way back, we saw a Harris Hawk flying low. We heard a lot of skittering and chirping from the brush. We were watching natures battles. Finally, we saw an adult quail expose itself to the hawk. It was protecting the young. Our presence scared away the hawk and eventually we saw some of the young quail come out. They wanted as little to do with us as they did with the hawk.
The next day was our long hike day. We drove out to Upper Pierce Ranch and then hiked to Tomales Point. This was also a wildlife day. The ranch is nicely restored, but we spent little time there. Tomales Point is a peninsula that reaches north, separated from the mainland by the bay. The trail pretty much follows the ridge of the peninsula, so you can get a good view of both the bay and the ocean. The views are better for the ocean, as you are closer to the ocean side of the peninsula. The cliffs are also steeper on the ocean side, contributing to the spectacular view. The Farallon Islands are barely visible in the distance. There are a number of coves that would be nice to get to but there are no trails down. Driftwood Beach is probably the nicest. Bird Rock is also a place where you can spend some time with field glasses.
We did not go all the way to the last point of land, but we got pretty close to it. On the way we saw a number of elk in the distance. What we noticed was that the bay is not really a bay. There is a spit of sand that encloses the bay into a very large lagoon or lake. The sand looked dry, like high tide does not even make the bay into a bay. There were hundreds of trailer homes at Dillon Beach. After looking around for a while we headed back. On the way back we saw that the elk had wandered closer to us. We also saw a coyote cross our path about 50 yards from us. We saw a number of songbirds singing in the late afternoon sun and a pair of British ladies did a better job of identifying them that we did. We had time to walk down to Kehoe Beach before it got dark. This is another pleasant but windy beach. With cold water if you want to swim or wade.
Our last day at Point Reyes involved a lot of riding and then sitting. Sitting on the beach, that is. There was a bit of hiking and climbing too. We drove to the lighthouse first. The drive was pleasant in the rolling hills filled with dairy cattle. Once you get to the end of the road you climb down about 300 steps to the lighthouse itself. The lighthouse was well kept up and interesting. But the birds on the rocks off the shore were more interesting to watch. We saw pelicans, terns and a number of types of gulls. There were even a few puffins. We saw them on both sides of the lighthouse, but there was more to see on the north side. The view from the trailhead north was spectacular even though the sky was a little hazy. The beaches and waves drew a clear line of demarcation between the blue ocean and the green on the bluffs that rose above the beaches. After visiting the lighthouse we hiked to Chimney Rock. The Chimney Rock trail again rises above the two sides of water: Drakes Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The trail gave better views of the bay. There were wildflowers and small animals and songbirds along the trail here as well. One bird would not move as we walked by. A lizard also would not give way. The view of the pelicans jousting for position on the rock was fun to watch. We spend an hour or so watching the fun and games. You could make out Bolinas in the distance and you could also just make out the Farallon Islands.
Our final stop was at Drake's Beach. The Visitor Center was again well done. Drakes Beach is the most commercial of the beaches we went to in Point Reyes. But it was still good for sitting on the shore and enjoying the day. There were not that many people there on a weekday afternoon, so we had a quiet, pleasant time doing nothing on the beach. There was a little daylight left, so we drove up the east side of the bay. We spotted an osprey nesting on an "osprey pole" on our way north. we finally stopped at a local type seafood restaurant for a pleasant dinner and sunset.
Sunsets and nights were interesting in the Point Reyes area. The fog would come in late every afternoon, so there was often no sunset. But the fog cleared out some nights. You could sit on the patio or down at the birdwatching station and see millions of stars to the north and west while the sky might still be clouded to the west. Or the sky might be clear in all directions. Then you could see the lights of San Francisco to the south. There would be few stars visible in that direction.
In order to get from Point Reyes to Oroville, where we would visit my mother, the easiest route to follow takes you across the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. If you take this route, you have to stop at at least some of the millions of wineries along the route. But how do you choose? We used two criteria. The first was to visit those with the best art collections. You would be surprised at how many wineries meet this criterion. For visits to those without art collections, our selection criterion was that they be small, preferably family owned. This still yielded a lot of wineries to visit. We stopped at about 6 places and about 10 wineries wares. The first stop in Sonoma was the building that used to house the Smothers Brothers Winery. It now houses 5 family wineries tasting rooms. The include Kaz and Leaping Lizards, both of which had good wines. The next stop was Gundlach-Bundschu, which makes very good whites, including a fine gewürztraminer. They also have an amphitheater where they put on plays by Shakespeare and others. Since we usually hit the Utah Shakespearean Festival, we might like to do a vacation of Shakespeare plays someday. We'd start at Shakespeare at Tahoe, hit Sonoma and then continue up to Oregon. Kunde makes good wines, particularly reds, but the thing I liked best there was the zinfandel-raspberry chocolate sauce. They also make a great pinot noir chocolate sauce. Valley of the Moon makes some nice wines, too. Most of these places also had attractive facilities, as well. But there were really no art stops in the Sonoma Valley.
Napa Valley was where we made our art stops. The first art stop was at the Hess Collection. In addition to making nice red wines, Mr. Hess has a large collection of modern art in a museum quality facility. Unfortunately for me, the collection is too new. It pretty much starts with deKooning and Rauschenberg, where my tastes end. I prefer art from the first half of this century. The next stop was Mumm Napa Valley. This place was totally surprising. First, the current winery inherited a set of prints commissioned by Seagram or whoever owned the winery in 1961 about the making of wine. The prints are by Ansel Adams and depict more people than in any other set of his prints I have seen. There are even a few color prints by Adams. The gallery also contains prints for sale by modern photographers. They are all of high quality and follow the spirit of Adams. But the surprises do not end there. The tasting concept at Mumm is a pleasure too. You buy a themed flight of sparkling wines at a cheap price. The flight easily suits two. They are brought by a waiter/waitress and you sit in a pleasant room or patio overlooking the vineyards. The experience is quite serene and unrushed, unlike many other tasting venues. The final art venue was Turnbull Wine Cellars. They also display prints by Adams and by the son of Edward Weston. The red wines there are exceptional.
We spent the night in Calistoga, where we had a very nice dinner at one of the many great restaurants in town. The town is a very nice place, but I doubt that a house could be had there for a reasonable price. The next morning we got a late start so that we could stop at Old Faithful of California. They geyser erupts as regularly and predictably as Old Faithful in Yellowstone. The surroundings are more commercialized, but the place is still somewhat reasonable. They geyser was impressive. From the geyser, we headed out. The way we took out went up the coast range of mountains north to Clear Lake. This is another small winemaking area in a broad valley. But the focus of life there centers around water recreation on the lake. From Lakeport we turned east, going over the last of the coast range and then across the broad Central Valley. Cotton crops on the west gave way to rice crops on the east side of the Sacramento River. As we rose from the low, flat plain to the foothills of the Sierras and the Sutter Buttes, the crops changed to fruit trees. We picked up some loganberries and cherries from a roadside stand to take to my mother, finishing the days drive.
Our time in Oroville was spent mostly catching up with family happenings. However, we did take a drive out to Lake Oroville. The water levels were lower than they should have been, indicating a drought condition. The lake is still very pretty, especially if you go east into the higher mountains. This was the first time I had actually been top the visitors center. It is quite informative and has a number of nature videos for entertaining the young. We also visited the Chinese Temple and Gardens. A small place, it is still filled with a lot of 19th Century Chinese goods. There are a number of Chinese wedding dresses and a few American wedding dresses for comparison. The gardens are well kept and pretty as well. The temple is worth a visit. The next morning was reserved for the mad dash back to Las Vegas and work on Monday. Oh, well.
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