The sunrise over Tomales Bay was beautiful and Motel Inverness was too. Their property extends right to the waters of Tomales Bay and they have a little boardwalk that goes out almost to the water.
Today we went out on the Point Reyes National Seashore to see what was there. As it turns out, there really isn’t a whole lot outside of a lighthouse, some hiking and beaches, and lots of wide-open space occupied by cattle ranches. There are some sights to see including lots of windswept coastline and some nice views over Drakes Bay and looking north toward the entrance to Tomales Bay, and also the historic Pierce Point ranch.
We went out to see the lighthouse, but as today was Thursday, it was closed, which I didn’t previously realize was the case. Oh well. We got to see it from a distance. It’s precariously perched on what appears to be the edge of the world. Water is all around and the wind from of the ocean is constant. Out toward the lighthouse, all of the trees are swept back toward the land because of the wind – not exactly comfortably breezy. The effects of the wind even show in the rocks – the rounded pits in this rock above the lighthouse shows this well.
The wind is so great out on the point that the only leafy plant that I noticed was this little guy hanging on for dear life to this big rock. The only other plant life that I noticed, aside from grasses, were mosses and these red alga in the last picture above. One of the signs indicated that a lightkeeper’s wife once tried to plant a vegetable garden, but the wind even blew the carrots away once they sprouted. I’d believe it. As my dad would say, it’s too windy to haul rocks.
Overlooking Drake’s Bay, there was a spot where you could see an area where seals congregate, though the specified vantage point put you more than probably 300 yards away, so we couldn’t really see much, but you can see some heads bobbing up above the water here and you can identify a lot of them on the beach if you look closely. Drake’s bay is where Sir Francis Drake came ashore after basically a pirate raid on another ship and made contact with the Miwok people. Interesting history and also interesting terrain – I really like the almost-white cliffs that surround the bay. Off in the distance you can see one of the many ranches on Point Reyes perched atop a cliff.
Speaking of ranches, this is what the typical ranch out on this peninsula looks like. It doesn’t look like there is much for the cows to eat and the farmers certainly do supplement with a lot of hay, but they survive somehow. I don’t have a picture of it, but there were huge stacks that probably almost occupied the volume of half of one of these large dairy barns of large square hay bales! I will leave you with this word from our non-sponsor: Good cheese comes from happy cows and happy cows come from California. 🙂
