coast of CA

Andrew and I spent a 3-day weekend on the coast of California (50-150 miles north of San Francisco. I needed a vacation from the computer and the lab. And, we both just wanted to spend some time exploring.

We stopped in a podunk town en route to the coast. As we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant, we watched many people frequenting the store next door. This sign was prominently displayed in its window. . . clearly a medical marijuana 'store':
A block away, we saw this scary dude sporting his medical marijuana jacket:
California is different.

We got out to the coast and found a campsite on the beach. We were surrounded by 9 other campsites and we figured the location out-weighed the many neighbors. As we set up our tent, some dude walked by, "Is it okay if our band jams on the beach until 10PM tonight?" "Uhhh, sure."

Us at the beach:
Jam band on the beach:
This seems to be the running joke at many sites:
???:
We are continually surprised at the geological similarities to South America...
Much of the coast looks like this:

We visited the Point Arena lighthouse:
With Williams-Mysic, I stayed at the youth hostel located just to the right (red roof) of this lighthouse many years ago.

We stopped at Russia's Fort Ross (1820s-1840s) where it was cold and windy:
And finally, we spent our last day on Point Reyes (Disclaimer: this photo is not taken by us, and is stolen from the National Park Service website):

The view from the Point Reyes lighthouse.


300 steps down to the Point Reyes lighthouse:
The above lighthouse was replaced in the 1970s for a newer, automated one which is located just a few feet in front of (and below) the older, outdated lighthouse.
The view from a walk at Point Reyes - from here we watched several hundred manta rays swimming (flying) with the incoming tide.
Fins of the manta rays as they negotiated around forests of kelp:

In all a good, relaxing trip to the coast. . .