Sunday, September 11, 2016

West Coast Trip - Day 10

Last night we were only about 20 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. This is us going across.
 This is from the other side.

 Our biggest disappointment was that we couldn't get to see Alcatraz. They were booked up for the day. So we drove down more of Hwy 1. We had no desire to drive into San Francisco.
 Not exactly sure what this is, but I took a pic anyway.
 This is Point Montara Light, It needs a paint job.





 Lots of pumpkins in this field.This is Pigeon Point Light. Another beautiful lighthouse trying to get funds to restore it. They had to close down the tour of the lighthouse in 2001 after two 350 pounds of iron from the top fell off.
f

 Buddy got lots of pics of these northern elephant seals.
 This is the original fog house that is getting very close to eroding away from the cliff.

 This is the fresnel lens that was in the lighthouse that they disassembled and is now on display. They will put it back in the lighthouse when it is restored.
 Hopefully someday they can get this lighthouse back to its original beauty.



 More pics of the elephant seals


 There were several men fishing off of the banks.
 These were paddle boat fishermen
 Yep, more elephant seals.


 So funny how they just bend their backs up when big waves would come and just lay right back down.



 Nice vegetation on the grounds. Wish we could see this during blooming season.


 Buddy got a good pic of a Hummingbird feeding on the flowers
 He's resting on a twig here.
 Sadly our trip has come to an end. Since we are flying out of Oakland, CA we found a hotel to stay at close to the airport which was right on the bay. After checking in we drove over to the shoreline and watched the kite surfers. 






 Even though the weather was foggy along the coast most of the trip, it was a great one. We may just have to come back and try it again sometime. I guess I should say we were lucky it wasn't raining. We fly out tomorrow at 2:30 and already have turned our car in, so this will be the end to our trip. :(

West Coast Trip Day 9

 This is Point Cabrillo Light. It is a beautiful lighthouse sitting high up on a cliff.
I couldn't get my pictures to line up right tonight from both cameras. The next few pics are from the second lighthouse we saw at Point Arena Light.  This is a friendship quilt that was made in 1907

 These are the stairs inside the lighthouse as we were walking down it.
 Driving more of Hwy 1. Still foggy, but still beautiful. Not so much for picture taking. Most of the curves are high up on cliffs and again very few guardrails.




 These flowers grow wild in Oregon and California. Not sure what they are, but very pretty in clusters.
 This again is the first light we saw today. Very cool getting to see the fresnel lens working as we approached it. It was a half mile walk to get to this one, as most of them out here have been.


 Looking off the cliff from the lighthouse.







 These pics are back to the 2nd lighthouse we saw Point Arena. The next two pics are the light keepers houses, which now today are nightly rentals if you wanted to stay on the property.





 Pictures from the top of the lighthouse.



 Point Arena Light is one of the tallest on the west coast.



 More of Hwy 1