Monday
Surprisingly, we left Bodega Bay on Sunday morning in bright sunshine and drove inland. We stopped in the middle of Santa Rosa for a cuppa at a Peets coffee house. Spent a nice couple of hours chatting to some locals. I like Santa Rosa.
We drove on through the hills, dropping down into Calistoga (which is a lovely name for a town, it has a song called Calistoga In The Rain, which is a great title, but it is a naff song), which is at the head of Napa Valley. We pulled into the Bothe-Napa State Park and found a nice shady campsite, nicely protected from the constant sunshine, of course there are mosquitoes here, but you can't have everything. (so it seems). In the evening we drove into Calistoga, which is a pleasant and pretty little town, and ate a burger at the Hydro Grill and sat and listened to 'Swing 7' a small jazz band (with a combined age of about 500 years), playing for a while.
Today, Monday, we (that is Sally, I just watch) caught up on our laundry.
This afternoon we confounded the mosquitoes by putting up our Gazebo with built in Mozzy nets. Ha!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Saturday, April 27, 2013
April 27th - Fishermans festival
Saturday Today in Bodega Bay there is a Fisherman's Festival. We went along to have a look, it was great fun, lots of craft stalls, as one would expect, live music and lots of seafood. The main event was a boat building competition. Four people, three hours to build it, two races, one winner. Using some plywood and soft wood, using only hand tools and an electric drill, (plus several rolls of duct tape). There were 18 teams and all seemed to be working from a plan. It was good fun to watch. The races themselves were over quite quickly, it was surprising how well constructed the boats were. The race was one by the local firemen, to everybodies delight. We really enjoyed our day out at the Fisherman's Festival.
Friday, April 26, 2013
April 26th Strictly for The Birds
Friday Today we drove the loop road: along the coast, inland along the Russian River, across to Bodega and back to Bodega bay. As usual the weather was overcast, misty and cold, so we did not waste much time on the coastal bit, as we had explored that on Thursday. We took the road inland and drove liesurely up the Russian River Valley, which was a very pretty run. We stopped in Guernville, but did not find it very attractive. Leaving the valley and heading south we passed through Occidental, which is a much prettier village. From there we continued south, stopping for lunch in the grounds of a country school, which is now a museum and park. Finally we arrived at Bodega and quickly found the main target of our day out - the school house used in The Birds. It is a very attractive building, made more so by its history. Right next to it is the Catholic Church which also can be seen in the film. The famous scene is when the children escape from the school house and run down the hill, past the church, to the safety of the houses on the sea front. The only problem is that the school house is about five miles from the sea! So all the shots of the children running taken from the side are from Bodega Town, but the shots taken behind the children showing them running down the hill were filmed in Bodega Bay. Then the different shots were edited together. By now the sun had come out in Bodega, however when we drove down the hill to Bodega Bay the sky was once more covered with cloud.
April 25th - Goonies, Whales and Seals
Thursday Today started with the same weather pattern - overcast and misty. We determined to drive up the coast to one of our 'Bucket List' destinations - Goat Rock. This beautiful coastline is where the final scene of The Goonies was shot and we wanted to see it. The Goonies is a film that our family grew up with, as it was one of the few videos we had, so it was watched over and over again. So its familiarity added to the magic. Goat Rock is also the home of a seal nursery. We set off and as we passed through Bodega Bay (the town) we stopped off at another famous location - the gas station used in The Birds to depict a terrible fire. Though we knew we were on the very spot where they filmed it was completely unrecognisable, apart from the presence of the sea, which was a backdrop to the scene in the film. However we did see a little group of sea lions waiting for fish scraps from the fish packing station there. We continued up the coast, once past the town the road rises up along the cliff top and wonderful views of the coast can be seen. Highway 1 is quite narrow and windy here and getting a good view as a driver can imperil the passenger as taking your eyes off this road is not a good idea. The whole coast here is a State Park, so there are plenty of stopping places, which we used. The whole coastal area, roadside, fields and hills are covered with many beautiful spring flowers, making the scenery even more spectacular. We approached Goat Rock and dropped down to the car park where that final scene of The Goonies was filmed. It is all still the same as it was in 1985. The view along the beach and out to sea, the stony beach and the car park with its beach signs. I tried to get some pictures which reflect those of the scenes in the film. It was great fun and once again we felt the film come to life (though we did not see One Eyed Willie's Ghost Ship disappear over the horizon.
From the headland of Goat Rock we moved on a few hundred yards to the mouth of the Russian River, where there is a Harbor Seal Nursery, unfortunately the seals live several hundred yards out on the sand spit, which is at the mouth of the Russian River. The sand there is very soft and difficult to walk on. So we sat in the dunes and ate our picnic lunch, while we sat the clouds lifted and the sun came out, there was now a clear blue sky, what a contrast. Instead of going to see them from the sand spit we drove round the Russian River Estuary and parked in an overlook, where we could get a great view of the seals. We took out chairs and sat and watched for about an hour. There are probably up to one hundred seal mothers and pups spread along the sandy estuary. We watched them basking in the sun and swimming round in the little bay. We also saw an Osprey fishing out on the sea. As we could see across the sand spit to the bay we were also keeping an eye out for any whales. We expected them to pass by way out in the bay, so were completely thrilled and surprised to see two whales (we assume mother and pup) rising right at the mouth of the river, perhaps twenty yards from the shore. We did not see them arrive, they were just there! So we then stayed for another hour watching the whales, this pair stayed in the bay. However we say another pair transit the bay about a half mile out to sea, followed by yet another pair a little later. We really had a great time mammal watching this afternoon.
From the headland of Goat Rock we moved on a few hundred yards to the mouth of the Russian River, where there is a Harbor Seal Nursery, unfortunately the seals live several hundred yards out on the sand spit, which is at the mouth of the Russian River. The sand there is very soft and difficult to walk on. So we sat in the dunes and ate our picnic lunch, while we sat the clouds lifted and the sun came out, there was now a clear blue sky, what a contrast. Instead of going to see them from the sand spit we drove round the Russian River Estuary and parked in an overlook, where we could get a great view of the seals. We took out chairs and sat and watched for about an hour. There are probably up to one hundred seal mothers and pups spread along the sandy estuary. We watched them basking in the sun and swimming round in the little bay. We also saw an Osprey fishing out on the sea. As we could see across the sand spit to the bay we were also keeping an eye out for any whales. We expected them to pass by way out in the bay, so were completely thrilled and surprised to see two whales (we assume mother and pup) rising right at the mouth of the river, perhaps twenty yards from the shore. We did not see them arrive, they were just there! So we then stayed for another hour watching the whales, this pair stayed in the bay. However we say another pair transit the bay about a half mile out to sea, followed by yet another pair a little later. We really had a great time mammal watching this afternoon.
April 24th - Bodega Bay
Wednesday We drove the 60 odd miles further west to arrive in Bodega Bay, we are camped on a large sand spit at the mouth of the Bay. It is cloudy and foggy, the temperature is down to about 60, however the Ranger's greeting included 'and the weather is real good here today'. This part of the coast is always shrouded in mist, if not downright foggy. Only a few miles inland it will probably be bright sunshine. It is so green after all the desert we have been in. Misty is one step away from myst'eri'ous, which includes eerie, leaning towards spooky. The houses are all dark brown or green (to reduce impact on the visual environment). All this goes to creating, or self fulfilling, the atmosphere for which this town is most famous. It is the setting for Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. We are here partly to see how much reality there is in the Hollywood creation. Having arrived by lunch time we took a ride out to Bodega Headland in the afternoon, where we could look back across the bay to the town. It is very pretty. In fact this is probably the most Yorkshire looking landscape we have seen this side of the Mississippi.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
April 23rd - California Delta
From Turlock we have driven North and West to a stretch of countryside between Central Valley, Napa Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, know as The Delta. It is the area where all the rivers that flow from the Sierra Nevada all come together to escape to the sea. It is a large area of marshes, lakes and waterways, very pleasant. It also has one of the largest windfarms I have ever seen, several hundred 80 metre turbines have been erected on the Montezuma Hills of the Delta region. We drove on through the Delta region to Valleja, a city on the north shore of the Bay Area, where we stopped to take in the view across the Bay, before setting up for the night in the local fairground.
April 22nd - Doc and Clara Ride the train in Railtown
Monday 22nd
Our weekend of Bluegrass fun is now over, we had a great time, renewed some old friendships and made some new ones.
We have stayed on at Turlock so that we could take a side trip back to Jamestown. We first visited here in October of 2011, but did not have the time to visit Railtown. This is a railway museum way up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in Gold Country. Not only is it a working railway museum it is also the location of many films that used railways in them. High Noon being one of list of 106 films shot here.
The most famous one for us was Back To The Future 3, released in 1990. All the real life train sequences were filmed here. However that is not all, the train used in the film was the Sierra No 3 Loco, which is still here. We opted to take the tour, which we found fascinating, John our tour guide was happy to tell us all sorts of things about the railway and we were happy to ask questions. There were four of us on the tour, which usually lasts an hour. We started at 12.20 and finished at 4.25.
The highlight for us was to not only see the Sierra No 3, but to be able to climb up into the cab and stand where Doc and Clara had been. We also saw some of the props, the different chimney stacks they used (complete and after the little explosion on the train).
We had a wonderful time and learned a lot about american railways of the last century.
We drove back down to Turlock in the evening, stopping in Oakdale, which as we all know is the Cowboy Capital Of The World (so they tell us), to eat in a very nice Chinese Restaurant where they serve dishes of gigantic proportion, such that we had to take half of our meal home with us.
Our weekend of Bluegrass fun is now over, we had a great time, renewed some old friendships and made some new ones.
We have stayed on at Turlock so that we could take a side trip back to Jamestown. We first visited here in October of 2011, but did not have the time to visit Railtown. This is a railway museum way up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in Gold Country. Not only is it a working railway museum it is also the location of many films that used railways in them. High Noon being one of list of 106 films shot here.
The most famous one for us was Back To The Future 3, released in 1990. All the real life train sequences were filmed here. However that is not all, the train used in the film was the Sierra No 3 Loco, which is still here. We opted to take the tour, which we found fascinating, John our tour guide was happy to tell us all sorts of things about the railway and we were happy to ask questions. There were four of us on the tour, which usually lasts an hour. We started at 12.20 and finished at 4.25.
The highlight for us was to not only see the Sierra No 3, but to be able to climb up into the cab and stand where Doc and Clara had been. We also saw some of the props, the different chimney stacks they used (complete and after the little explosion on the train).
We had a wonderful time and learned a lot about american railways of the last century.
We drove back down to Turlock in the evening, stopping in Oakdale, which as we all know is the Cowboy Capital Of The World (so they tell us), to eat in a very nice Chinese Restaurant where they serve dishes of gigantic proportion, such that we had to take half of our meal home with us.
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