PT. REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE TRIP

The Pt. Reyes National Seashore is about 40 miles north of San Francisco on the Marin County coast. It is a beautifully diverse area of forests, chaparral, pasture land, farms, and coastal plain. The area is known for organic farming, dairy cattle, goats, and fabulous cheeses. The people are very progressive and environmentally concerned. There are several well know artists in textiles, pottery, metal sculpture, and photography. Several writers make their home in the area. October is a great time to visit. Click on the map and you will see an orange arrow that points to where we stayed near Marshall.
This is downtown Pt. Reyes Station. It is a bustling community almost totally dependent on tourism. Great restaurants and artisans shops as well as old fashioned saloons make it a very interesting collection of businesses.
Just north of where we were staying was this brilliant red church next to the highway. It was so distinctive I just had to take a photo.
This is "Poets Loft". It's a vacation rental with all the amenities that you need for a great stay. Pots and pans, plates and utensils, some basic food stuffs i.e. spices etc. They will furnish towels and bedding for an extra charge. Too much not to bring your own. It is built on stilts out into Tomales Bay.
There is a dock next to the place if you bring a boat or just want to sit by the dock of the bay.
At dusk the bay is particularly beautiful. The light changes constantly providing a never ending series of views until the sun sets.
The master bedroom is upstairs and is very well appointed. The window on the left side of the photo opens so you can hear the water lapping against the shore at night. Soothing and just the right sound to welcome you into the arms of Morpheus. Sleeping as very sound and restful.
The afternoon sun was a welcomed warmth that produced a very quiet and cozy feel to the living area. There is a deck seen on the left of the photo where there is a wooden hot tub. In the summer months a late dinner on the deck would be very enjoyable.
Our favorite spot was the sofa looking across the bay. The water was ever changing. Water foul, seals, sea otters, sea lions, a fish jumping out of the water while brown pelicans swooped down to try to make them a meal. Although we tried to read while sitting on the very comfortable sofa there was always something to watch.
This is the living area. It has a one butt kitchen, a wood heating stove, an additional sofa, a dining table as well as a kitchen bar. There is also a wi-fi connection and radios and cd player. NO TV and NO PHONE. That is to say that although there is one they prefer you not use it. Unfortunately cell phone coverage is very weak so you have to go into Pt. Reyes Station to make your cell calls.

Here we are on top of Mt. Vision, the highest point on the peninsula. It is 1500 feet elevation. It has a government facility that is used for communication via microwave transmission along with a variety of antennas. We could make our calls to family from here. It was very cool to be there because as you will see in the photos below, it is a very good place for viewing the surrounding area. We really recommend that you go if you are in the area.
This is the most famous photo in the area. Whenever you see anything pictorial about the area this is the most used shot. It is taken from near the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse. It was very windy and cold the day we were there so we went across the road and took a photo of Drakes Bay and deer grazing on the side of the hill.
Dear roam all over the area. Lots and lots of them. They have grown accustomed to humans. However there are signs that there may be too many. We saw signs that asked to manage the deer but not exterminate them. Apparently there is a balance that is constantly being debated. They are really enjoyable to watch though. This is a buck and his female partner.
This is Tomales Bay from Mt. Vision. If you look close you will see a white dot on the opposite side of the bay. That's about where we were staying. The weather was beautiful while we were there except for the really cold wind that came up in the afternoon.
This is looking west toward the National Seashore. It was such a beautiful area to see the coastline and the ever changing clouds and fog. We just sat on a memorial bench installed near where I took this photo and reveled in the majesty of the beauty of such a wonderful area only about 40 miles from the San Francisco bay area where there is almost 9,000,000 people living.
This is the Pierce Ranch. It is the home of several hundred protected Tule Elk. We did see a rather large herd but were warned that it was "rutting" season and the bulls were pretty randy and protective so it was not a good idea to approach them. The ranch was very interesting to walk around. It was established in the 19th century.
We ended our outing at the Pierce Ranch with a view of the sun lowering to the horizon behind these Cypress trees.

This are is one of the most interesting places you will find this close to the Bay Area. Although we live in Santa Cruz we only had to travel about 140 miles in 3+ hours to find this bit of paradise. We had a wonderful, restful, romantic time. We both highly recommend taking the time to visit and rejuvenate your life.