Picks and Pans – Around Point Reyes National Seashore

Admittedly, driving to Point Reyes on a Saturday afternoon was a bad idea and I should have mentally prepared myself for driving amongst the leapfrogging line of aggressive wannabe sports car drivers that surrounded us the entire way there. Lacking such mental preparation, I began to envision a weekend filled with crowds of people jockeying for position and my irritation was at a peak when we finally got to the Visitor’s Center where I had no interest in anything but getting away from everyone else. Fortunately, we left the Visitor’s Center and went directly to Limantour Beach. We walked over the grassy dune and on to the huge expanse of sand just in time to see the sun sink slowly toward the horizon. I took a few deep breaths and felt my irritation melt out through my toes and away with the tide.

The area around Point Reyes is a little slim on the cheap eating. Exhibit A: the truck serving Chinese food on the streets of Point Reyes Station still charged about $9 for their least expensive dish. That’s right, nine bucks for food from a truck. So when we stopped at the Olema Farm House, we had little hope of finding anything in our price range. And while they certainly had some seafood dishes that were on the expensive side, they also had burgers for $8. We sat at a table in the cozy bar, ordered our burgers and were pleasantly surprised to find them quite good. The french fries, though, were the best thing on the plate. The thin, crispy shoestrings were notably tastier than your average fry.

The white bluffs at Drakes Beach so inspired Sir Francis Drake that, upon his arrival there in 1579, he named the area New Albion in honor of his beloved white cliffs of Dover. Well, that’s the romantic account, anyway. In all actuality, he probably named it New Albion because it sounds so very British and was therefore more likely to peeve the Spanish. In addition to its riveting history, Drakes Beach is also a very nice place to spend a morning. We set up our campstove at one of the tables along the beach, made some coffee and slowly sipped it while watching surfers bob among the waves. Then, following Drake’s historic lead, we embarked on a scouting expedition of the area. We started out along the beach, but the incoming tide gave a wet foot warning to head for the hills, so we hiked up on the bluffs where we got amazing views of the ocean below.

Although it is quite close to the lighthouse, one of the most popular stops in Point Reyes, Chimney Rock was relatively unpopulated and offers some of the best views on the point. In addition to the Chimney Rock trails, there’s the Elephant Seal Overlook, which fulfilled the promise of its name with a beach covered with gigantic, sun bathing elephant seals.

People are strangely drawn to lighthouses. They flock to them like moths to a flame. After much discussion, Sean and I are still not sure about the magical pull of the lighthouse, but our best guess is that they are physical remnants of a romanticized bygone era and, as such, are evidence that humans used to live much more exotic, exciting and noteworthy lives. Oh, to return to the days when men were shut into towers and forced to shovel hundreds of pounds of coal to light the night-blackened seas for the good of all mankind. The Point Reyes lighthouse valiantly stands as yet another monument to the idyllic notions of its visitors. And it’s kind of pretty, too.

Usually, a small town along a two-lane highway consists of a bar, a church and a gas station. Bodega, California takes that formula and flips it on its head. Rather than go with the old standards, Bodega has a surf shop, an organic coffee shop and the church from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds ( St. Teresa of Avila Church). Of course, we had to stop.

Continuing our morning trend of serendipitous roadside discoveries, we made an unscheduled stop at The Barlow in Sebastopol when we spotted a collection of metal sculptures along the highway. All marked with the signature, P. Glashoff, the exuberantly whimsical sculptures were assembled, with a visionary eye, from scrap metal. I especially liked their ball bearing toes.

It’s awful. Don’t do it.

These showers were warm for all of about 2 minutes, which is just long enough to get soaped up before using the now freezing cold water to rinse off. Were we clean? Yes. Were we happy? Hell no.