Signs of the times & places

Although it is part of the US, California does occasionally seem like another country.

One general aspect of differentness is the kinds of signs one sees on the roadways, city streets, and retail establishments. After a day or two of noticing unusual or funny signs, I started making a photo collection.

First of all, I thought that our license plate was so apt for a California car!

Along the highway, we saw some warning signage that made us scratch our heads. I don't think the hill here in Point Reyes was really that steep...

Another highway sign you see a lot around the coast isn't funny at all, but since it's something we never see at home (or even along the Texas coast) I had to hop out and take a shot:

As Highway 1 dips and climbs along the coastline, you see "Entering" and "Leaving" Tsunami Hazard Zone signs often. Fortunately, we didn't have to head for higher ground during our stay, but we kept an eye out for what might be the best route to safety on more than one occasion.

While finishing up our long hike in Point Reyes we came upon this car parked along the road. Looks like they have all California liberal causes covered, wouldn't you say?

Some of the most interesting signs we saw involved sale or consumption of food.

The diner (Renee's) where we ate in Lakeport had this amusing sign by the door to their kitchen:

If you click on the photo of this wall, you'll see another clever sign regarding complaints.

Since Joan had heard so much about In-N-Out Burgers from ex-pat California friends, we thought we had to try one.

However, we were very underwhelmed. Whataburgers are better, in our opinion, and we were at a loss to explain the huge crowd at this In-N-Out in Santa Rosa.

In the Ferry Building in San Francisco, there were all kinds of quirky food stores.

a market for mushrooms only

we took a pass on this one

San Francisco is of course famous for its cuisine, but we found that they are also really, really serious about recycling. The trash can in our hotel room was divided into trash and recylable sections. And we saw lots of these receptacles around the baseball park:

there's even a bin for compost!

Along a San Francisco street similar to this one...

...we saw this warning sign:

I always have wondered how high profile vehicles keep from tipping over when parked along the amazingly steep San Francisco streets. So I guess they're ok if they can adjust their tilt!

Austin has some steep streets, but nothing can top San Francisco's unique topography.

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Back to scenery next time. I want to show you some closeups of life in the redwood forests.

California coast: Point Reyes

The Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County is a wonderful place, of great scenic, historical, and geological interest.

We made our plans to see earthquake evidence, views of the beaches, and another lighthouse. And while we weren't completely successful in this multi-quest, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this area.

First up was their "Earthquake trail," a short loop that offers not only informational displays about the area's geology, but also some concrete evidence of the 1906 quake's power.

In the photo above you can see how a fenceline was displaced several feet by the movement of the fault in that large earthquake. The blue post is one of several that march along a hillside, marking the active fault location!

This is a little disconcerting! But we were also reassured by one of the displays we saw.

According to this, the National Seashore area (see the red line pointing to it) might be the safest place to be in a big quake! Look at all that bedrock!

One reason why this little spit of land is different from the surrounding land is that it's part of the Pacific Plate, not the North American Plate that we spend most of our lives on.

So during our hike out to the bayshore, we were tromping along the Pacific Plate!

Joan takes the lead, no matter which plate you're on

After our hike, we took a long drive out to the westernmost point of Point Reyes, where the lighthouse is situated.

Unfortunately, the further out towards the point we traveled, the thicker the fog.

It made for an interesting, atmospheric drive, but we were beginning to worry that we wouldn't be able to see the lighthouse.

And we weren't.

However, the spit of land where it's located is scenic enough, even at short range, that we were glad we'd made the trip.

you could *hear* the surf when you got close to the edge

this mosaic on the walkway seems to be swimming toward you out of the fog

Perhaps on a future trip we'll be able to see this lighthouse, but we read that the area is foggy at least two thirds of the year! So perhaps the odds aren't too good.

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Next up, I'll depart a bit from scenery and show you some west-coast-only signs. As I've said, we found that directional signage in the Golden State leaves a lot to be desired, but we saw all kinds of other amusing and unfamiliar signs, enough to inspire me to amass a photo collection of them.

California coast: lighthouses

We stopped at 3 lighthouses along the rugged California coast. And although they are fascinating historical sites, they are definitely needed here for navigational safety.

First up was the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, in Mendocino County, just south of Fort Bragg. I took the picture above as we were walking from the lighthouse point back to the parking area. I was so pleased to have caught the light beam in my picture!

The Point Cabrillo complex consists of several historical buildings in various states of restoration. One, the assistant lighthouse keeper's residence, has been completely turned into a museum that offers a fascinating glimpse into what life here was like 100 years ago.

this fabulous old stove is what they cooked on

Some of the other buildings on the site have been converted into vacation rentals, an imaginative way to bring in funds needed for restoration and maintenance. And wouldn't it be a great place to spend a week!

You can't go up into the lighthouse at Point Cabrillo, but the building that houses it is open, with informational displays and a small gift shop (where I indulged myself and bought a t-shirt).

it was a *little* foggy

And, as you saw from the first photo above, the lighthouse is still a functional, important part of California coast navigation.

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Our next stop down the coast was a more famous and older lighthouse at Point Arena, also in Mendocino County.

This site is much more developed, and the walk to and around it is more scenic than at Point Cabrillo, so I took a lot more pictures here.

Another plus for this lighthouse is that you can go up to the top!

They also have continuous docent talks in their little museum, where we learned a lot of general and specific lighthouse history.

In the museum, they house the large, double-bulls-eyed Fresnel lens that used to beam the Point Arena light signal 20 miles out to sea. What a beautiful piece of optical technology!

As we learned on our tour, Point Cabrillo currently uses a similar lens, although it's not as big.

However, the Point Arena light, which of course still functions, is a newer model and amazingly smaller. The current light, seen here closeup from atop the lighthouse, is only a little bigger than a carryon bag, and uses a THIRTY WATT bulb, but still can be seen 20 miles out!

We also saw a great, specific example of why lighthouses are needed along this coast. Inside the museum, we heard about a major shipwreck on a large rock off the Point Arena coast. Then, from atop the lighthouse, our guide pointed out the nasty submerged seastack that was responsible.

You can see it in the picture below, 'way out to sea, where the surf breaks in a very unexpected spot.

This rock is apparently several acres in area, and only 10 feet or so below the surface of the water. Talk about a hazard to navigation!

Fascinating stuff! And also quite scenic.

Here are some shots taken around the area, mostly from the top of the lighthouse:

where the museum and that beautiful lens are located

a typical scenic view from the top

sea lions out on the Point Arena rocks

that garish splash of pink is flowers!

windswept trees on the walk from parking area to lighthouse

The Point Arena lighthouse was on this spot in 1906 and the lighthouse keeper was actually up inside it and felt the structure sway north, then south, then north again several feet (!) in response to the big quake in San Francisco.

The spiral staircase, similar to the one we ascended to get all those fabulous views, provided enough stability that the lighthouse didn't collapse and the keeper was unhurt.

However, the structure eventually had to be rebuilt, as the damage was severe enough that it was unsafe. So we did not climb the original edition of the Point Arena Lighthouse, but the one that's only 105 years old.

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We visited our next lighthouse the next day, but I have to be careful to say we "visited" it, not we "saw" it. We had been lucky with the fog for the whole trip, as it only drifted in occasionally to lend a little atmosphere to our photos.

But on the day we visited Point Reyes National Seashore it was completely socked in.

However, we still saw some great things there. And I'll tell you about them next time.

California coast: Highway 1

We had of course gotten glimpses of the Pacific off and on during our journey north, but the master plan of our California trip was to take the inland roads on the way up then travel the coast highway on our way back to San Francisco.

Our quick junket to Oregon provided us with some nice ocean views and we even took a short detour on the way home to a state (we were back in California) beach where we caught a nice sunset (see below).

This was practically the only time we walked on sand, though, during the whole trip. We were much more interested in viewing beaches and coast from scenic heights than in tromping about on cold, soft sand.

After our final redwood activities, we found ourselves once again in friendly Fortuna, but we thought we'd take a different route out of town on our way to the famous California Highway 1.

Unfortunately, due partly to poor signage and partly to navigator error (mea culpa!) we got a little bit lost.

But it wasn't a serious losing, as we were able to find our way back to civilization. And we saw some neat scenery along the way, such as the hills and foggy valley you can see above.

Before long, though, we were in Leggett, CA, where highway 1 begins.

Wow! What incredible, marvelous scenery along this road! It definitely lived up to the expectations engendered by its fame.

We mostly stopped at scenic pullouts; there aren't a lot of towns along this stretch of coast. One village that did merit a stop, however, was Trinidad; its beach looked really appealing in some attraction brochures, and it was really quite nice.

As well as historically interesting. They have this nice memorial to residents lost at sea, and they have a service here regularly in their honor.

The memorial is just a ways down a path from a wonderful lookout point that gives you views like this:

It was a Saturday when we were there, which probably accounts for the very large number of boats in the bay.

On down the One toward our first real coastal overnighting at Ft. Bragg.

our motel had a gorgeous setting, with these great eucalyptus trees right out the door!

We had a yummy dinner at the Cliff House restaurant, which normally would yield great views of the coastline; but during dinner the fog was so thick you couldn't see anything!

However, we didn't have trouble finding this fabulous dessert (which we shared):

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The next morning it just so happened that my turn to drive came up and was it exciting! The big advantage, of course, was that I could stop whenever I wanted to get out and take a picture or 5, and I did that often.

But the windiness, narrowness, and, in at least one section, the extreme height, of highway 1 make it definitely not for the faint of heart. And I'm not sure I'd want to drive it again.

But we were so glad that we braved it, and were also glad that the weather was as good as it was. Such fabulous scenery!

Of special note are the seastacks, rugged rocky mini-islands just offshore. I couldn't seem to take too many pictures of them.

this one was actually an arch

And the lovely little, and big, beaches...

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Along with just "plain" beaches and seastacks, highway 1 takes you by some interesting and photogenic lighthouses. You can read about those next time.