Sea Ranch to Ft Bragg via California Rt 1

If you have never driven Rt 1 here in California, you owe it to yourself to do it.  The coastline is spectacular and the drive memorable - especially the 180 degree switchbacks as you go up and down the hills.  We stayed at the Sea Ranch Lodge last night and then drove to Ft Bragg today.  Stopped to view the scenery along the way.  Here are a few pic's for your enjoyment:

The coastline above was the view we had from our room at the Sea Ranch Lodge.  Sea Ranch is now a town but was originally a sheep ranch.  The owner subdivided and created the town, but everything was designed to fit into the environment.  They did a nice job and the place is beautiful.

Lots of trails, flowers, wildlife and a black beach accessible by wooden stairway are highlites of the site:

After a good morning hike around the grounds, we took to the road again.  Only got about a mile before we saw a sign indicating a bakery was about a half mile up the mountain--so off we went.  It was well worth the trip as you can see in the picture below:

With a fresh coffee and some delicious pastry in hand, the Suburban took us back to Rt 1 and on up the Coast.  The sign indicating a Point Arenas Light House looked interesting so we made the turn and two miles later found ourselves on the point.  It was great!

The museum was a good one and the walk up to the top of the Light House well worth the effort.  On  top your eyeballs are 155 feet above the ground--or so we were told.  Great views and a good guide were appreciated:

It was neat to take pictures of Pelicans from above:

Tonight we'll sleep in Ft Bragg at a lodge on a cliff overlooking the Noyo River.  

Tomorrow we continue north towards Seattle.  Don't know where we'll be tomorrow night but we have until next Thursday to get to Seattle, so we have plenty of time to enjoy the ride.  Until then, . . . .