I got up, got ready, got my car all packed up again, and then took a walk over to the gazebo and the cliff where the cow had been. The ocean was a startling and beautiful blue, and in the cove five little sea lion pups were playing. With the lighthouse as a backdrop to the blue water and the pups, I felt like I was in heaven.
Sea lion pups
Picture postcard perfect!
Then my phone rang. It was Brandon calling from Switzerland, telling me that the birthday gift I had sent Reagan finally arrived and she was going to open it with me on the phone. It was so fun to listen to her get excited and the interaction between her and her daddy. What a perfect way to start the day.
I got on the road about 10:30 a.m. with my first destination being the Point Reyes Lighthouse. I knew I had a very windy road ahead of me, continuing on down CA-1, and it lived up to it. It was wild. Sometimes it got to dizzying heights and then drop back down to sea level. Sometimes it seemed like the road was barely hanging on to the side of the cliff. Wild! At one point a I saw a sign letting me know that there were cows in the area. I was like, "What? Are they hanging on by their hoofs to the side of the cliff?" And besides, how many times do we see a sign for deer and yet we never see a one. Well, not the case up here on the northern California coast. I laughed so hard! It kept me smiling for hours.
The sign made me smile
Seeing the actual cow make me laugh hysterically.
"What?" he says. "Didn't you see the sign?"
Point Reyes is one of the foggiest places in America so one never knows if the lighthouse will be shrouded or not. And there's always the issue of the more than 300 steps leading down to the lighthouse. I hadn't decided if I was going to do it or not, but the decision was made for me. The lighthouse isn't open on Wednesdays. You can go as far as the top of the steps but no further. It was extremely foggy - even the half mile walk up to the steps was misty with the fog, but you could still make out the lighthouse on the point. I actually also got to see a couple of deer on the hillside, chomping on the grass, hanging on for deer (get it?) life. How do they do it?!
Looking down at the Pacific Ocean
Misty fog drops
Point Reyes Lighthouse
Those are only some of the more than 300 steps leading down to the light,
and then back up again. Yes, I have done it once before and it almost killed me.
After leaving Point Reyes, my next destination was the Point Bonita Lighthouse. My notes said it should take a little over an hour to get there, but it took much longer. But it was well worth the drive leading into San Francisco. I mean, how often do we actually get to see the full Golden Gate Bridge bathed in glorious sunlight? It was awesome! Every view of it was spectacular! I could have stayed on the hillside in awe for much longer, but wanted to get on to the lighthouse.
The beautiful, and not-covered-in-fog Golden Gate Bridge . . .
. . . and the city of San Francisco.
The little island in the middle is Alcatraz Island. There is a lighthouse -
appropriately called the Alcatraz Lighthouse - on the island.
Driving past the bridge and up and up and up an ever increasing winding hillside, taking a wrong turn and ending up in Sausilito, back tracking . . . finally arrived and started the lengthy walk down to the lighthouse. I saw the light from the windy road, but it was quite a distance away, again, right on a rocky point. You have to walk through a tunnel that has been bored into a giant rock to get to the lighthouse. I got all the way down to the tunnel only to find the door to it closed and padlocked for the day. Bummer. Oh well, it was worth the drive to be able to see San Francisco (and a little bit of Sausilito) in all it's glory.
Oops! Landed in Sausilito. I'd like to go back and visit some time. Very cute!
One way road, steep and curvy, to the Point Bonita Light
If you squint, you can see the lighthouse on the very edge of the rock, on the left.
The path leading to the lighthouse and the locked tunnel door.
What was not worth the drive was from South San Francisco all the way to San Jose on Highway 101. The traffic was HIDEOUS!! I was back to three/four lane, backed up rush hour traffic and I hated it. It was painful after spending so many days away from it. I would rather have been driving 50 more miles of crazy, windy roads then ever do that drive from San Fran to San Jose. I arrived at Andy and Vicki's place three hours after I said I would be there. AND, my phone was "searching" the whole time so they weren't getting my texts and I wasn't getting their calls. The whole thing was so annoying. Can't wait to get out of the city! But thanks to Andy & Vicki, I get to do some laundry and have some company. It's nice to be here, even if just for the night.
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