The Views Along The California Coast Are Awesome!
We took a day trip to the coast driving North to Santa Rosa and then following Hwy 116 along the Russian River to the coast. We drove this road last time when we’d driven home along the Oregon coast in 2013. The differences this time would be turning South at the coast rather than North.
The Russian River ends at Goat Rock State Park where we stopped for photos and to walk around. This is a nice park with some excellent beaches and dramatic cliffs worth spending some time to walk around.
After the beach we drove down the coast stopping every now and again to take some photos. I felt somewhat rushed because we had gotten up late and gotten stuck in traffic on the way out so there was limited daylight to enjoy along the coast. We had a calamari and clam chowder in a bread bowl lunch in Bodega Bay.
Eventually we made our way to Point Rayes Park. The road here goes through a lot of hilly farmland so as we were driving we’d be looking at the sihlouette of a cow at one moment while cresting a hill and then the next moment a deep valley of grassland as we sunk back down. All while the time we were listening to the radio and over the hills the signal would mix rock & roll and orchestral.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to get to the lighthouse in time to see the sunset and only caught the last of twilight. This was unfortunate and a little disappointing but we made the best of what we could in photos.
From the point it’s nice to see how much of the coast is actually open beaches and cliffs. I’m not sure how much is private, but the idea of being able to enjoy the nature is intriguing. In some ways it’s surprising how much land is out there just waiting to be explored and enjoyed.
