North on Highway One

I had clearly still not adjusted to the time difference as despite a comfortable bed and quiet room, I found it hard to sleep beyond 5.00 AM. Chris was also awake early, so we got up, to find yesterday’s glorious sunshine replaced by the fog for which this coast is better known.

Our stay at the Inn at the Tides included a complimentary continental breakfast at the Tides Wharf. We didn’t have particularly high expectations for this but it proved to be both generous and tasty. There was granola, a bowl of great fruit salad with lots of variety (strawberries, blueberries, melon, pineapple, and more), a yummy ginger muffin and a croissant. We paid extra to get ‘proper' coffee and really enjoyed our breakfast at a table by the window, even though it was too foggy to see a lot. The bonus was when a seal swam past!

We checked out and drove into the centre of Bodega Bay to take a few photos around the marina, although the weather was too dull really. We then started the drive north. Despite that low misty cloud there were some good views of the dramatic coastline on our left so we stopped briefly at one of the overlooks to take a few photos, which were much more successful than the ones in town!

Fort Ross State Historic Park

We then continued to Fort Ross State Historic Park, arriving just after it opened at 10.00. We paid the $10 entrance and had a brief look around the small museum in the visitor centre to learn more about the fort. It takes its name not from someone called Ross, as I had initially assumed, but from Rossia. This was the base for a Russian trading company providing support for their activities in Alaska. It is notable for being the first multi-ethnic community in northern California, home to a mix of Native Californians, Native Alaskans, Russians, Finns, and Swedes.

Russian fur traders arrived in what is now California via Siberia and then down the coast from present-day Alaska. As they moved south the Spanish were moving north up the same coast, while the British were expanding ever-westwards. By the time America won its independence from Britain the Russians were well established here, and decided to make a settlement in an area ‘not occupied by Europeans’, north of the limit of Spanish occupation in San Francisco. Fort Ross was established as an agricultural base from which the northern settlements could be supplied with food, while also continuing trade with the Spanish and with the native peoples of this area, the Kashaya Pomo.

A path wound down from the visitor centre through woodland with bushes draped in spiders’ webs adorned with raindrops. As we approached the fort we could see the stockade walls. These are not the originals, which took a battering from the elements at this exposed location. They were rebuilt at various times throughout the twentieth century and now have foundations of structural steel and concrete. As the state park’s website explains, these may not be historically accurate, but are ‘expected to be more permanent than redwood posts stuck into damp ground’.

Within the stockade are a number of buildings. Of these only one is original, the home of Alexander Rotchev, the last manager of Ross, dating from around 1836. However even that one has been substantially restored and in part rebuilt over the years. The rest are replicas, constructed mostly during the 1970s and 1980s. But all are largely authentic in appearance and carry the sense of history. Several, including the Kuskov House which is a reconstruction of the first manager’s home, have been furnished as they would have been when the fort was in use, and photos can be taken throughout.

The rather grey misty scenes were brightened here and there by splashes of pink flowers which I later discovered were Belladonna Lilies, natives of South Africa but now widespread in this part of the US.

From the gate on the south side of the stockade you can access the cliffs. Despite the mist the sea views were wonderful. I watched as a small boat with two fishermen on board battled the waves.

Point Arena

We then continued north on Highway One, with lots of bends to negotiate but with great scenery as our reward. Our next stop was in Point Arena where we had a walk along the main street, enjoying some colourful street art and interesting old buildings.

We also had a coffee in the Little Green Bean, drawn by the fragrance of roasting beans. Unfortunately the coffee didn’t quite live up to the promise of those beans, being rather weak, but we enjoyed sitting there and eavesdropping on the chit chat of locals!

After our coffees we drove out to the lighthouse on Point Arena itself. The weather was too murky to justify climbing up, even if I’d wanted to face all the stairs, but the surrounding cliffs made for some good photos. We learned that this in the closest point on mainland North America to Hawaii, a fact that surprised me.

The cliff scenery was even more stunning when we stopped partway back down the road to walk to the Sea Lion Rocks overlook, despite the lack of those animals.

Mendocino

We made a short stop in Mendocino, which rather disappointed me, although probably the dull weather didn’t help. It seemed rather self-consciously quaint, although I did enjoy a quick browse in a couple of shops (without however buying anything).

Fort Bragg

We continued the last few miles into Fort Bragg where I’d booked a more basic motel for the night as a balance to some of the pricier accommodation on this trip. The Oceanside Inn had reasonable reviews but the room we were given had an unpleasantly strong smell of curry so we asked for a move. The manager was at first reluctant to oblige, claiming he had no other rooms available (despite a ‘vacancies’ sign at the entrance), but then admitted he could change us to a room with two double beds if that would be acceptable. We agreed that it was, checked the room to be sure, and made the move.

In the evening we walked the four blocks into the centre of Fort Bragg to have dinner at the North Coast Brewing Company’s pub. The food was good and the beer more so, and we enjoyed chatting with the Californian woman at the next table and her Dutch husband.