Going California Coastal

GOING CALIFORNIA COASTAL

It was weekend’s like this past one that I feel so blessed to live in California. Within a few hours of either direction (from SF Bay Area) we can be in a variety of micro-climates and terrains. I had to pinch myself all weekend as we took off on one of our Harley excursions for the weekend with a couple of friends. We started out on Friday morning, making our way through some traffic (although could’ve been worse!), and went up to Healdsburg for lunch. This is an area that is one of the “gateways” to the wine country. Imagine rows and rows of grape plants with their leaves just popping out. The sky was blue and the weather about 80 degrees. Perfect day for a bike ride!

After lunch we cut over to the coast for our evening destination at Sea Ranch. A community which started in the 70’s and all homes are positioned with ocean views. During the ride over the mountain range to get there we drove through some breathtaking vistas. Starting with rolling hills of green starting to turn golden. The wildflowers are all in bloom this time of year and every so often at a turn we could breath a sweet smell of flowers. The Bay Leaf trees are bursting and we would smell those as well. The air was what we call “soft” this weekend, meaning there were just light puffs going across you instead of nagging hard blowing wind. (Yes, we’ve ridden in that too!) You’d never be able to experience some of these things from a car! This time of year all of the trees and shrubs are pushing out their new foliage and they’ve not had a summer season of dust on them yet. The various shades of greens and shadowing make for a fabulous tapestry.

Saturday we headed up north further along Hwy 1 to the town of Mendocino. The sky was so blue, not a bit of fog, making the water look as turquoise as you’d see in Hawaii - although not near as warm! It’s one reason I prefer our coast in the Spring and Fall - the weather seems much calmer then. We had a terrific lunch on the deck of a small restaurant, sitting in the sun and overlooking the beaches. We then headed back to Sea Ranch for the evening - and what a treat we had - we saw a couple of whales “blowing their spouts” from the living room window!

Here’s a picture of the coastline we were on for a few days….. not a bad shot since it was taken from the back of a Harley going about 60mph!

On our return trip home Sunday, we took a different route via Russian River and through the Redwoods. If you’ve never seen a redwood grove, try to do it sometime. The road is lined with lush ferns and other shade loving plants. When the sun filters through these giant trees onto the greens it’s an incredibly peaceful sight. We then visited a very unusual nursery/greenhouse which you can checkout at www.californiacarnivores.com. It reminded me of something out of The Little Shop of Horrors! All of these plants eat bugs, some of them can grow large enough to eat small rodents - yikes! You’ve probably heard of Venus Fly Trap, they have those and many others. You’ve just gotta love Spring and getting outside to do things!

Here’s a picture of one of the “carnivores” but really doesn’t do it justice. Check out their website!

Until next time, J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”