We went back to Hwy 1 where we left it; luckily nobody took it, so it was still there. Since the day started out foggy, Jenni and I knew we weren't going to see much. Hwy 1 soon became a city street and we trekked north through Golden Gate Park. We traveled through a very long DARK tunnel (no lights) and emerged onto Hwy 101 just before it headed over the Golden Gate Bridge. At least we think it was the Golden Gate Bridge. All we saw was fog.
After we drove over what was presumably a bridge, Hwy 1 soon split from 101. We immediately left Hwy 1 and headed to the most charming valley I've ever been in--Mill Valley. Here we found what used to be a Carnegie Library hidden in the trees--well hidden. It's now a private residence and you'd never know it used to be a civic building.
We drove back to Hwy 1 and continued our journey north. I've written about roads with character. They've got nothing on this road! Much of the road had a 35 mph speed limit--we didn't often go that fast. Twisty, turny, topsy turvy. What a great road! Now, if you were to ask me about the landscape, I can tell you it looked like fog.
What we did see of the landscape had changed from the low grasses we saw yesterday. We saw more trees and quite a few roadside bushes. Large roadside bushes. I often thought I shrank down to the size of a mouse and was running down animal paths. Again, we saw lots of wildflowers. At one point we passed a home that had wildflowers planted all around it and across the road. Yellow, purple, and white wildflowers accompanied a panoply of California poppies, along with yellow poppy-like flowers that had orange centers. Stunning.
We drove around Mt. Tamalpais and past Stinson Beach. I remember coming here as a teenager with my family. I'm not sure why we brought our Dalmatian with us because she didn't like water. We were allowed to let her run off leash. Again, I'm not sure why we would do this, because she never came when called. Pepper had a ball running free on the beach. However, as soon as we got in the water, Pepper freaked out. She barked at us, ran up and down the shoreline, she even ignored her fear of the water and ran in to paw at us. She did not like us in that water. As soon as we came out, Pepper went on her merry way. Get back in the water, and the freak was on, again. Weird dog. I loved her. Miss you, Pepper!
We continued up through Point Reyes--a large wetlands area. We zigzagged through Point Reyes Station where my family supped a few years ago during a family vacation to Dillon Beach, several miles further up the road. Further north we traveled past Bodega Bay, weaving along, working our way toward Sea Ranch. About this time we're getting butt-numb, antsy, and I found myself looking for bathroom facilities. Aside from a few dodgy looking restaurants and several scraggly bushes, no facilities could be found. We finally came upon Little River State Park, and the name was indicative of my situation. Saved! Thank you, State of California!
A flock of water fowl escorted us up the coast for several miles. We never quite caught up with them so we can't tell you what kind of bird it was. (That should give you an idea of how fast we were moving. "As a crow flies..." certainly benefited them.) We also saw quail, tons of vultures, blue jays, hawks, maybe eagles, two deer, and a really stupid duck that tried to cross the road with her brood. Luckily we spotted them in time.
All day yesterday and up until this point, I did all the driving. Jenni's not very comfortable driving my car on windy roads and I LOVE windy roads, so I was happy to do all the driving. It was time, though, to hand over the wheel, so Jenni took us the rest of the way. Up through Mendocino we went and into Fort Bragg. It was exciting to see all these coastal towns I had only heard of. Trees were taller and bushes grew scarce. We knew when we were drifting inland because the sun would come out. Poor Jenni had to drive some of the windiest roads of the day.
It was during Jenni's drive that we encountered our first redwood trees. The road weaved around these incredible giants. Absolutely stunning.
Soon we saw the last we of the Pacific Ocean from this road. Why? Well, this picture should explain it:
Bye, bye to the Pacific Coast Highway, Cabrillo Highway, Coast Highway, Shoreline Highway--whatever you call it, it's the good 'ol Hwy 1. [Jenni Wiki'd California State Route 1 and learned that the highway ends here because the coastal cliffs north of here are too steep and unstable. She also learned something else interesting. In yesterday's blog I noted that we passed a colossal construction of two tunnels and two bridges. It turns out that area is referred to as Devil's Slide. Recent slides shut the highway down for months. In fact, the highway used to run past Pacifica and up to Daly City, but an earthquake in 1957 wiped out a large portion of the highway.]
After saying goodbye to Hwy 1, we joined Hwy 101 and a new highway name was added to the list--Redwood Highway. 101 was called El Camino Real when we rode it in Santa Barbara, but we can easily adjust to the new name.
After stopping in Garberville for gas, we continued into Humboldt County and then back to the coast and up to Eureka. In Eureka we found one of the most beautiful Carnegie buildings I've ever seen. This building is now a modern art museum and was lovingly restored.
The woodwork was incredible, too.
It was time to find a motel. Somehow we managed to land in Eureka during graduation weekend for Humboldt State University. The hotels universally raised their rates by 50%. And no other hotels for miles. And they have lousy internet. It's taking me 3 hours to write this because of the upload time. (Of course, it could be the distraction of "Storage Wars.") Thank goodness for the gift of the library; I'll focus on that.
Tomorrow we'll say goodbye to California and hello to Oregon. Yippee!
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