Today was a day trip north from Bodega Bay, up Highway 1 – the Pacific Coast Highway through Sonoma County.
It was a perfect day—clear, blue skies with visibility for miles.
Because it is early in the season, there wasn’t much traffic. Most of the viewpoints had only a few cars parked at them. We stopped often to admire the exquisite scenery, a mix of beaches, cliffs, rock formations and fields of flowers. The only drawback was a fierce wind. At a couple of spots, I would have liked to walk, but the wind cut right through me, and I thought better of it. At one point as I neared the edge to take a photo and a gust of wind hit me, I could imagine being blown over the side. I stepped back in haste.
Fortunately, we were in a car rather than the camper. Much of the road from Bodega Bay to Fort Ross is steep and extremely curvy. A section is under repair, one lane of the road had been washed out by a mudslide.
Near Jenner one pull-off had a slew of cars. When I got out of the car and looked around, I understood why. Hundreds of seals were lazing on a strip of land where the Russian River empties into the Pacific Ocean. I was glad to see that the area was marked off and that people were respecting the boundary.
On our return to Bodega Bay, I was famished. We stopped at the Fishetarian to eat lunch. Though it was 2 pm, the parking lot was jammed. The restaurant / fish market has to be one of the most popular places on this section of the coast. Patrons order their food at a kiosk, gather it up and eat at picnic tables surrounding the store. I ate some of the best calamari ever.
While Jeanne and I were exploring, her husband, son-in-law and granddaughter went to the beach to fly kites. Her daughter went on a long bike ride. All of us were happy to take naps.