Loren and I were finishing our visit at Clear Lake at the beginning of this week. The campground resort owner sent us his photos of our kayak ride from last week, and, Loren took a single kayak for a ride while I did laundry on our last day there.

We had a lovely dinner with special friends at the Blue Wing Saloon and Cafe in Upper Lake too. The restaurant is connected with historic Tallman Hotel, famous for its role as a stage coach stop in the distant past.

We then thought ourselves lucky to be leaving Clear Lake as the prediction was for weather in the triple digits. It turned out their weather did not reach that high and instead we spent the next several days cold at a coastal KOA campground in Manchester.

Regardless of the weather we made the best of it. We visited the Point Arena lighthouse, which was barely visible from the fog, 

then went for a hike on the Stornetta public lands. 

We felt fortunate that the sun came out before we hiked down to Bowling Ball Beach later that afternoon. A friend had suggested we visit here and to be sure to go at low tide as the unusual formations are only visible at when the tide is out. The sight reminded us of the Moeraki Boulders we visited when we were traveling through New Zealand.

This friend had also suggested we travel further South on US1 to Gualala, to stop in at Alinder Gallery of photographs which includes some of Ansel Adams’ work. It was fun to see Alinder’s photographs too. Loren then indulged me in a drive even further south, all the way to see Wright’s Beach. It was too exposed to enjoy our picnic dinner, but Loren soon noticed a wonderful shade tree with a great view not too far back up the coast. 

We visited Point Arena lighthouse for a second time to see it when the sun was shining, then finished that day with a hike to the beach, finding a different view of the lighthouse.

The next day was our last full day on the coast. Loren offered it to be my choice of what to do. We first partook of the Rock Painting event at the KOA — mine is reflective of seeing bass and several fishermen on Clear Lake last week, and Loren’s rock choice compelled him to fill in the lips and face he visualized that were prominent on his rock.

 

Then we drove north on coastal US1, up to Fort Bragg. We had a delightful dinner at Cucina Verona. We were seated at a table for two in front of the accordion player for a most memorable evening. I just had to snap a photo of one of the storefronts in town as we returned to our car.

The next day we drove to Castro Valley. We ran some errands, then enjoyed a themed social dinner with Loren’s sister, prepared by the United Methodist Women with about 80 other members and friends attending their summer BBQ. Afterwards we pitched in to help her with some fertilization and trimming in her back yard. Now Loren and I are in Fremont, preparing to spend the next few weeks in the California Sierra mountains… internet availability will be a challenge, so please visit again – I will post here when I can.