Thursday 5th - day 16. Avenue of the Giants to Fort Bragg, Port Reyes, Napa Valley, Sacramento International airport.

Another big drive today, so another early start. Last nights ‘last resort’ campground was actually very nice - we were surrounded by giant trees and the washrooms have a definite Scandinavian feel. We were on the road by 8.30 - the amazing road called Avenue of the Giants, where gigantic spruce and redwoods rose up into the sky, right next to the tarmac on either side of the road. It was a beautiful and memorable route, made better by being able to drive it alone rather than with the summer crowds and in the morning cool with shafts of early morning sunlight filtering through the trees.
After this there were some decisions to be made as tomorrow’s destination will be Sacramento Airport to meet Chris at 8am.
The direct route to the airport down highway 101 would be about 175 or so miles. We preferred to drive the scenic coastal route on Highway CA1, which is much further and slower.
It turned out to be an extremely good decision as the West Coast of California proved to be exceptionally beautiful - even if the road was somewhat challenging! We wound our way over the mountains between Leggett and Westport and finally out onto the coast road. The road was steep, windy and narrow but Bill was un-deterred and we followed the splendid coastal scenery up onto a headland near Fort Bragg to enjoy a cooked breakfast sitting in the sun overlooking a beautiful beach and sea stacks.
Luckily the weather remained perfect with clear blue skies and a cool breeze. The Mackerricher State Park was full of super enthusiastic rangers, very proud of their baby whale skeletons, and rightly so of their sandy beaches, cliff top paths and board walk wildlife trails.
We carried on south past Mendocino and encountered a local cyclist who enthused greatly over the views going along this stretch of coast but warned us that after the village of Jenner, ‘the shows over’!
We thought we should make the most of the next 30 miles!
We drove on, stopping at intervals to enjoy / photograph the scenery and bird life. Highlights were Opsreys (or red-tailed hawks?) at Point Iverson, the beaches and views at Salt Point State Park (Fisk Mill Cove and Gerstle Cove), nerines and pampas grass growing at the roadside, pretty little towns at Little River, Elk, and Point Arena, and the impressive tidal overhaul at Jenner. The towns were lovely - painted wooden churches and houses and shops with a ‘wild west’ style facade. We stopped for tea and to watch the sunset at Bodega Bay. As we did so, we watched a thick white sea fog roll in off the sea to the south of us, thus removing all visibility. Our plan had been to head south to Point Reyes National Seashore, but we decided that it would now be better to opt for a drive through the Sonoma and Napa valleys, inland towards Sacramento, ready for tomorrow’s airport pick up. Although this had potential to be beautiful under the light of a full moon, in reality we actually followed a network of main roads to reach our destination.
Annoyingly, the campsite at Lake Solano closed its gates at 9pm, so without any evidence of means to pay out of hours, we camped in the car park outside.