Hiking the Bay

 

Some of you might know Bodega Bay as the set in the Hitchcock movie "The Birds", and there are quite some reminders of this horror movie throughout the little town by the sea. For us, however, Bodega Bay is the sweet little town right on the ocean with beautiful Highway 1 winding its way right through it, no sidewalks and an abundance of places that offer tasty seafood. It has a harbor with a narrow navigable channel and where you can find people looking for clams during low tide. Bodega Head and the headlands separate the harbor from the open waters of the Pacific Ocean - and is a great place for whale watching and hiking.

On one of those rare sunny days in February Kaefer and I drove out to Bodega Bay. The drive from our house to the parking lot on Bodega Head takes a bit less than an hour and passes through the gentle hilly part of Sonoma County with its green pastures where you can see cows grazing. It joins Highway 1 after having passed through the hamlet of Bodega (not to be confused with Bodea Bay) where you can find the famous schoolhouse of the movie. After that it's just another five to ten minutes up to Bodega Head.

The view from Bodega Head over the rocky coastline is breath taking. In the photo above and below you can see the coast of Point Reyes in the distance which is a National Seashore and a very favorite place of mine.

We observed a gull taking a dip in a puddle and every now and then we stopped to watch for whales. However, the sea was rather rough and it is difficult to spot whales in those conditions. Needless to say, we didn't see any. This is the first time during whale migration that I didn't see any whales - probably because we didn't come out here because of all the rain we had. We mainly see humpback and gray whales here.

The headlands are pretty bare, so this "grove" of old and dead trees stood out. We saw a few ravens up here ("The Birds", right?) and that dead tree was a prefered landing spot.

We hiked around the headlands, enjoyed the view of Tomales Bay nestled between Point Reyes and the mainland, and finally saw the harbor of Bodega Bay.

Every now and then we stopped and sat on a bench, chatting and sharing memories of our many trips to Bodega Bay. Or we just sat in silence, enjoying the company of each other. It is so nice to be able to be quiet with a person you love.

On our way back to the parking lot we passed the memorial to the fishermen of Bodega Bay who lost their life out on the sea. Bodega Bay has always been a fishermen's town, but with the fame of "The Birds"  the tourists came as well.

Back in town we got calamari and clam strips at one of the many saefood places and ate our food out on the deck. Although it's not exactly dinner, this is for Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date.

Since the weather was so lovely and Kaefer wanted to stick her feet in the ocean, we stopped at Doran Beach. This beach is a regional park and very family friendly because of its location within the bay where the waves are much gentler and not as dangerous. In the second photo below you can see the headlands in the background.

However, even here the sea was quite rough. It's been a wild winter. 

Still, nothing could keep Kaefer from putting off her shoes and wading into the water.

While she was freezing out there, I walked along the sandy beach and enjoyed the many prints the shorebirds had left.

It was a wonderful day that I will not forget.

A Sunday by the Sea

 

When I wrote about the Children's Bell Tower in Bodega Bay I mentioned that after visiting the tower we walked along the Coastal Prairie Trail. It starts right next to the bell tower and meanders along the coast through coastal prairie to the North. Most of the trail is a dirt path, but there are boardwalks through the murkier areas.

Before getting out into the "prairie" we walked through some wooded areas with remains of cow parsnip from the year before and beautiful mushrooms like this Russula.

Finally after a bit more than a mile the trail ended in the most Northern neighborhood of Bodega Bay. This was a bit of a quirky neighborhood - windows were barricaded, buoys were hanging on weathered fences (I love that!) and what do you think of this very unique wall?

We also saw some stunning Candelabra Aloe. They thrive in the ocean climate where it never gets hot, but is windy and fog can linger the entire day. It always surprises me that they do so well here.

We descended a steep hill and walked along Salmon Creek towards the ocean. The "yacht club" made me laugh!

And finally the beach!!!

This old boat wreck was almost completely covered by the sand, only the bow and stern and of course the mast were still visible. It must have been here for quite a while. The waves were licking on it constantly.

The sea was still pretty rough just a day after the tsunami warning all along the West Coast. It was windy, but the sun did peek through the clouds and eventually made a full appearance. Combined with the reflection from the water, the light was so glaring that we opted not to walk back on the beach but go back up the hill and return along the Coastal Prairie Trail. 

It was a gorgeous day at the ocean.

T is for Children's Bell Tower

 

Today I'm taking you to the small seaside town of Bodega Bay. At the Northern end of the town, right off famous Highway 1, you can find the Children's Bell Tower. I had always wanted to visit the bell tower, but in our more than 20 years of living in Sonoma County we have never stopped here, even though we passed it many many times.

But Sunday before last we finally went there. It was my birthday and I could decide how to spend the day. I wanted to walk the Coastal Prairie Trail which starts right next to the bell tower.

The bell tower is visible from Highway 1 (if you know where to look), but there are no signs. You have to know where it is. There is a small dirt parking lot right next to the community garden from where you walk to the bell tower. 

I'm sure that most of you have heard of Nicholas Green who was shot by highway robbers in 1994 and whose parents decided to donate his organs to seven Italians. The Green Family was from Bodega Bay and the Children's Bell Tower was built in memory of Nicholas and all the children.

The tower has more than 140 bells that were donated by families, schools, churches, and individuals all over Italy. The monument is the work of San Francisco sculptor Bruce Hasson.

No two bells look exactly the same. There are big ones and small ones, plain ones and those with beautiful decoration. 

The central bell has been donated by the Marinelli Foundry, that has been making bells for the Papacy for more than 1000 years. This bell was blessed by Pope John Paul II.

A view from below

All those bells are so beautiful. It is a very moving monument.

After we had visited the bell tower we walked along the Coastal Prairie Trail and finally down to the beach. It was a wild surf, just one day after we had a tsunami warning because of the underwater volcano eruption near Tonga. But this will be the story for a later post.

In the evening we got some sushi and had a bottle of our favorite bubbly - which is my ticket for Eizabeth's T post.

Egrets in Bodega Bay

After I had bought my bread in the Wildflour Bakery in Freestone I went further on to Bodega Bay. Since it was a very windy day I thought that the waves would be pretty tall and made the drive up to Bodega Head. However, although the sea was rather rough, the waves weren't much taller than usual. But the wind was so strong that I had a hard time holding my camera steady, and I soon left again. Down at the bay it was much calmer, and I discovered some egrets sitting at the edge of the water.

This guy has caught a fish

While I like watching egrets standing in the water and admiring their beautiful reflection, they are even more elegant in flight and spectacular while landing.

Usually egrets are quite shy, at least the ones here at our local lake. They don't like it when you come too close. These egrets, however, didn't mind my presence at all. They stayed where they were (there were quite a lot in the water) despite me approaching them, and some of them kept on circling around.

I love the reflection in this image

They are such beautiful birds - and skillful divers when they discover a fish. I'm glad I saw them! It certainly made the morning less chilly.