Highway 1 roadie

24 June 2024

We made our way back to San Rafael via highway 1 which provided a range of coastal delights. We started in the cute little village of Jenner. It was a misty morning with sea fog which made for a beautiful start to our drive south.
 

First things first and that was coffee at Cafe Aquatica - great coffee and right on the river.

Our next stop was Goat Rock and Blind beach. We had hoped to walk to the seals but as you can see from the pictures below the sea fog was quite thick so after a while we turned back.

Majestic rock formations just off shore  clouded in mist  - made it very dramatic.

It must be stunning on a clear day. We loved it none the less.

Next  we wound our way along the incredible coast line with so many little coves and beaches. We stopped at Portuguese Beach and School House Beach before arriving at Bodega Bay.

Bodega bay was established as a port by the Russian settlers who came for a milder climate to raise crops and fur trade with Alaskan settlements. (We passed by Bodega where the film The Birds was shot).

They picked a great spot. The wide sheltered tidal estuary is home to so much marine life it's incredible. In the short time we were there we saw sea otter, an Osprey flying with a fish it had caught in its claws, so many wading birds working the tide lines, seals and seabirds of all descriptions.

Our expert road trip advisers suggested we try the clam chowder and/or the Dungeness crab. So always one to follow instructions that's exactly what we did and it was perfect - we sat outside and spotted a sea otter!

On the road again, we drove all the way down beside Tomales Bay - stunning coastline and the sun was out. 

We poked our noses into the Tomales shops, think Martinborough and you'll get the idea - cute as a button!

Next stop another cute little town, only bigger, Pt Reyes Station.

We looked into the famous 'Tobys Feedlot' where we grabbed a coffee and checked out the amazing range of produce on sale. King Charles and Queen Camilla have visited here so if it's good enough for royalty...😁

The little gallery had an interesting exhibition.

Then we drove out to the Pt Reyes Lighthouse passing all the little beachside settlements along the way. Gorgeous road that hugged the coast for quite a while. The closer we got to Pt Reyes the more foggy it became. Oh no, would we see the light house?

Where there's a will, there's a way - a bit of foggy mist never hurt anyone.

There are 321 steps down to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was actually beneath the mist when we got to the bottom of the steps.

We smashed out the 321 steps back to the top no sweat - we have calves of steel from our rock climbing on the Likya Yolu in Turkey 😄

We drove the Lucas Valley Rd back to San Rafael. It was lovely to drive through a tunnel of towering Redwoods. 

Fun fact, the earliest AA garage is in Pt Reyes Station village - it has a wall of trophy heads too. What a fantastic day, one for the memory bank for sure.