More coast driving

coast line north of Bodega Bay
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Before leaving Point Reyes, I hiked the Earthquake Trail, which is right along the San Andreas Faultline. There is a very clear broken line all along the hike where the earthquake ruptured the land.

Next was more driving along the coast. Not too many farms here, just tons and tons of ranches. Which meant that a lot of it smelled like manure, a quite unpleasant aroma and one of the downfalls of driving with the top down. Luckily there were small forests that had a nice, woodsy smell every once in a while.

more coast line
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I passed through Bodega Bay, where Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Birds, one of my all time favorites. It was beautiful, just like all the little towns on the northern coast.

I stopped at Fort Ross, which the Russians established to grow food for the Alaskan settlers. It didn't work out too well, due to the gophers and sometimes inhospitable climate. Still, neat to look at and see the Russian style fort.

From Fort Ross, the road is extremely curvy and hillaceous, so you have to drive very slowly and concentrate on the road. I couldn't believe the scenery, and tried to take a few pictures through the windshield, but they didn't turn out so well. It was a little dangerous anyway.

The chapel at Fort Ross
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I stopped in Mendocino for the night. It used to be a mining town, which was abandoned when all the nearby trees were cut down. In the late '50s, a bunch of San Francisco artists repopulated, and it's a really great place full of galleries and cafes.

Last night I had an amazing meal of butternut squash ravioli at the Mendocino Hotel Restuarant.

I also tried a bunch of Mendocino wines, but wasn't really enamored of any.