We went for a long drive today. We started out going south on the 101 until we got to Santa Rosa, and then took highway 12 west until it ended and became highway 1. We passed through the town of Bodega before stopping at Bodega Bay, at The Tides inn where the movie 'The Birds' was filmed. We didn't see any crazy birds while we were walking around but the town is definitely a little creepy especially with the sky being so overcast and the ever growing flock of seagulls.

Foggy Highway 1 entering Bodega Bay

The Birds

After leaving Bodega Bay we headed north along the coast up highway 1. The coastline here is magnificent and so different to the southern California coast. It's very rocky, craggy, and rugged, and the ocean is a lot less gentle than it is in San Diego, but it is very beautiful. Highway 1 is a cool road, it's very windy and it climbs up, down and around; the views from some parts of the highway were amazing, and the fog along it seems to have a mind of it's own, appearing and disappearing at will.

My next house

We drove for about 60 miles on the 1, passing through some cute little communities including The Sea Ranch which is a community covering about 16 square miles along the coast. All the houses are made of fir and redwood and have very distinct architecture, and they totally blend into the countryside, it was very cool. Just past the Sea Ranch we stopped alongside the ocean and ate lunch with a view to die for.
We followed highway 1 until it split off and then we went east along the 128 where we passed through the Navarro River Redwoods State Park and saw some old and very large trees. We stopped and walked a little ways into the park and it was so quiet and quite dark; the trees don't let a whole lot of light reach the forest floor. We followed 128 and it ran us right into Cloverdale. The drive was nice along the twisty road until some idiot decided we weren't going fast enough up the hill. When we pulled over to let him past he tried to run us off the road - idiot! The only thing to spoil an otherwise lovely day, and to finish it off we got to visit with Tango, the welsh terrier who arrived yesterday. He's really cute and he reminds me of Tal-y; even though she's quite a bit bigger than him he does all the same gestures that she does and now I miss her more.

Mike: Fantastic drive! The views were magnificent and the trees make you feel so insignificant!