Bodega Bay Weekend

Posted by Karen on 24-Dec-2009

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I had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas weekend at Bodega Bay with Tersha and Vic. They invited me the spend it with them at the beach in their trailer and I’ve decided that is a great way to camp! Christmas Eve, we arrived at the Bodega Bay RV Park and set up house for the weekend. Next door to the RV park is the Bell Memorial, which commemorates the generosity Nicholas Green’s family for donating his organs in Italy during an untimely tragedy.  In 1994, while vacationing in Italy, Nicholas was shot and killed by highway robbers. His family donated his organs to seven Italian recipients and it helped spur the virtually non-existent organ donation program in Italy and is known as the Nicholas Effect. The memorial contains bells from all over Italy and one large bell which was blessed by the Pope. Donna, a coworker from EDS, and her husband Gary, arrived at the RV park and parked next door, so more friends to visit with. Christmas morning, we walked a couple miles through Sonoma Coast State Park to the beach and enjoyed the solitude of a beach shared only with birds (and one state ranger). After a nice day spent relaxing and talking and getting to know the other RVers, we drove to one of the many lookout spots and enjoyed the sunset over the ocean. On Boxing Day, we took a ride over to the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve for Tersha’s big tree fix. After a few stops at beaches, we turned inland and followed the Russian River to the tall trees near Guerneville. Walking through old growth forest is always relaxing and peaceful, even if you’re being slightly rained upon. After a nice dinner at the Sandpiper Restaurant, it sure was nice to have a dry and warm trailer to retire to! Can you tell how much I liked camping in a trailer? After packing up Sunday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at the Tides Wharf Restaurant and then headed back home.

Natural Bridges and Ano Nuevo State Parks

Posted by Karen on 04-Jan-2009

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Tersha, Vic, Brianna and I headed out early in the morning and drove over to Natural Bridges State Beach to see the monarch butterflies that winter there.  According to the website,

The park’s Monarch Grove provides a temporary home for over 100,000 Monarchs each winter. From mid-October through the end of February, the Monarchs form a “city in the trees.”

and I’ve seen pictures of the butterflies clustered in trees, and was hoping to see that that sight.  Unfortunately, we didnt’ see any clusters, but we did see Monarch butterflies holding perfectly still while it was too cold still for them to fly.  On the path, we met a researcher that was doing a count of the butterflies and he explained how the death of the pine trees in the refuge were affecting the eucalyptus trees that the butterflies nest in, so the butterflies weren’t coming there in droves anymore *sad*.  Next we walked over to the beach and checked out the remaining natural arch that gives the beach its name.  Herons, seagulls and cormorants were also hanging out on the beach.  After lunch, we drove north to the Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve for our elephant seal tour at 1pm. This is my third time here and I have yet to see the bull fighting that I’d like to see in action… oh well, maybe next time.  There were a few seal pups on the beach, but they weren’t in full force yet.  It was a nice sunny day, so the seals weren’t too terrible active today.  On the way out, we decided to walk along the beach instead of the trail and we did get to see a couple of elephant seals close up on the beach.  Everyone kept a respectful distance and didn’t disturb them.  After watching the surfers for a bit, we started home, but we just had to pull over to enjoy the gorgeous sunset in Half Moon Bay.