Day 4 - Ft. Bragg, CA

[Tuesday, Ft. Bragg, CA] After a nice dinner and a good night's rest, we awoke to a chilly morning about 6:33a.m. No alarm had been set. After John showered he started cooking breakfast. He cooked both Linguica sausages this morning and put half of it back in the fridge for tomorrow's breakfast. No point in cleaning the skillet twice! He scrambled an egg for Maggie and an egg for Linda and then fried up some over-medium eggs for himself, along with a couple of pieces of toast. Linda had gotten the coffeepot ready to be plugged in the night before. So, we had a nice, home cooked breakfast. It's good and it saves money for other things. Maggie had an egg and a bitty-bite of Linguica and Linda had some egg and her usual Raw Bits Twang Twang.

Then it was off to Glass Beach, a unique site, created partly by man and partly by nature. Originally the glass, now found tumbled smooth, was discarded as broken dinnerware, bottles (this was before plastic bottles) and other household items, were tossed over a concrete bulkhead into the ocean. This was before people knew that it was not good for the ecology. To local residents, it was just the city dump. The dump site closed around 30 years ago and over the years the many items that had been thrown to the rocks below became thrashed by the ocean and tumbled into sparkling treasures. The site became a state park in 2004 and cleanup efforts took place to remove any hazardous objects. The photo gallery for today shows Linda holding three pieces she found. Note: She did NOT take them off of the beach (wink!). It was a nice walk from the parking area and back, probably 3/4 mile. There were hundreds of blackberry bushes lining the walk to the beach and thousands of blackberries in various stages of ripening. Linda enjoyed a few of them but John (too seedy) and Maggie (too something else?) did not partake.

After Glass Beach we went back to the cottage, worked on the travelogue a bit and had lunch. Very relaxing.

Early in the afternoon we took off for the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden which was practically across from Shoreline Cottage. The Garden was founded in 1961 by a retired nurseryman who purchased the 47 acre property after a year of searching for the ideal location. He and his wife then began the arduous task of clearing, planting and trail building. Some retirement! I like the Buzzardbait plan much better! By 1992 the land was purchased with grants from the California Coastal Conservancy for use as a public botanical garden. It is supported by admissions and the dedicated labors of more than 100 volunteers. John and Linda got in for the Senior Rate and Maggie got in free, in fact she was paid in treats to enter. There are more than 20 sizeable collections of plants, such as, camelias, grasses, ivies, heathers, heritage roses, iris and rhododendron. The features in early October are dahlias (the most I've ever seen in one place) and fuchias. There is also abundant wildlife such as deer, squirrels, racoons, river otters, skunks, rabbits, foxes and more than 80 species of birds. There is also a pioneer gravesite, a vegetable garden and a model train area. If you walk far enough on the trails you get to some beautiful views of the ocean. Linda left Maggie and John panting on a bench and went far enough out on the path to see the ocean and get a few photos. When she returned (with water) they were revived and ready to hike back to the entrance.

By the time John got through the Botanical Garden trek, having already walked at Glass Beach, he was ready to kick off his shoes and relax. We went back to the cottage and did some more travelogue work. Linda checked out the hidden access beach area after getting direction clues from our Shoreline hosts. It was sandy beach on an inlet where there were only a few people around. Linda took some photos on the shaded path to the little known access point. She also picked up a few interesting looking rocks - mostly gray and white.

A little after 6:13p.m., we went to Perko's Coffee Shop for dinner. Linda had chicken tortilla soup and John (who had Linguica that morning) got the Linguica skillet (scrambled eggs with Linguica, cottage fries, bell peppers and onions under melted cheddar cheese...and biscuits and gravy). John's theory is that you just can't eat too much Linguica. Linda's theory is that any Linguica is too much Linguica and was thankful the room had a good ventilation system for while John was frying it up. We both enjoyed our meals.

We truly enjoyed our stay at Shoreline Cottages and would heartily recommend them to any of our friends and family. You can find more about them at Shoreline Cottages

Time to rest and get our energy for our drive to Arcata tomorrow. We'll be going through the Humboldt Redwood State Park (Avenue of the Giants). We especially want to see Charles Kellog's "Travel Log", a redwood carved out to be an "RV" on a Nash Quad chassis. Charles, aka "The Bird Singer" lived in Morgan Hill except when he was travelling in his "Travel Log". We'll also be making a stop at the C. Crane Company in Fortuna. More on these in tomorrows posting. Until then....good night!

Link to Day 4 Photo Gallery The gallery will open in its own window. When finished viewing, close that window to return here.