We've been to Mendocino and Fort Bragg many, many times but it has never occurred to us that there are people who go there to go to the beach (Brrrr!). We've gotten off the highway and driven through Caspar and we've camped at Russian Gulch which is only about 1/2 mile South but we've never been aware of the Beach.
Judging from the equipment that's available in the camp store and some of the very specific campground rules, many of the people who frequent this campground must be abalone divers.
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| This shot of the entrance to our campground was taken from the beach side of the street ... |
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| ... and this is the beach from the same location. |
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| These paddle boarders look like they are protected from the cold water. |
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| Not everyone is as prepared (once again, Brrrr!). |
Our first full day: Mendocino and the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse
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| The beach, just across from Mendocino's Main Street. The tent on the left is for a music festival that is currently underway. |
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| Mendocino's Main Street and that same beach from a point a little farther out. |
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| Hwy. 1 crossing the Mendocino River. |
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| We've never noticed a lot of fishermen in Mendocino. On this visit, it was low tide and they seemed to be everywhere. It seemed odd that they were fishing from the bluffs, high above the water. |
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| Looking back at another part of town. |
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| We spotted the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse far in the distance. |
After hiking the bluffs, we visited the Mendocino Hotel for Brunch and then explored the shops in town.
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| MacCallum House, where we've stayed many times and where we've eaten dinner even more times. We have dinner reservations here on night 3. |
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| Looking down a side street, we spotted the fog coming in. |
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| Another shot of the fog coming in. |
Then we headed back to Caspar. Our campground is near the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, another point of interest that we've never been aware of in all of our visits.
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| The Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. |
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| The Fresnel lens. |
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| The coastline from the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. |
From our evening walk:
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| Surfers attempting to surf the worlds smallest waves. |
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| This fishing boat was in the same spot all day. |
Our second full day: Fort Bragg
Our first stop in Fort Bragg was Glass Beach. Long ago, this was the sight of the dump. The colorful, ocean-smoothed, broken glass is all that remains (if you don't count a few tires).
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| We didn't find a safe way down o the beach so we took this picture from the bluff. |
Our next stop was one of our favorite spots in Fort Bragg, the Botanical Garden. We missed the spectacular rhododendron season this year but the Garden is always beautiful.
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| This place really makes Kristen miss her garden in Lafayette. She looks around and makes plans for her garden at our next house. |
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| The gates at the lower end of the garden open out onto the bluffs over the Pacific. |
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| Passing back up through the garden, we found this dahlia garden that is occasionally used for weddings. |
Tonight, it's dinner at MacCallum House. Tomorrow, we're off to Concord which will be our landing spot while we visit my Mom.
-JC-
You guys and MacCallum house...
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