Ending 2020 with visits to Ferndale, Novato, Costanoa, Mendocino, Westport and back to Ferndale were the goals. Again taking the entire COVID-19 pandemic into account we started out on our journey on the 21st of December heading for the Ferndale Fairgrounds, arriving around 4 pm with our presents wrapped, some holiday lights and a mini tree. We enjoyed the rain on the roof all night.
A mostly empty place except for about 15 trailers spread throughout. We were camped on the fairway with three other trailers.
We awoke to a beautiful cool morning in the fairgrounds.
Driving out to Centerville Beach and then up the hill to the Lost Coast Headlands we parked in the first parking lot and hiked to the other lot to take the beach trail.
The beach was gorgeous, empty, so many beautiful rocks, and a lot of foam. I wrote BYE 2020 in the sand and videoed it. Wish I had also written Retiring 2021… but that’s another story.
We love Ferndale. We have been coming here since the mid 70’s and watched it change over the years, however it still is the quaint small town that it’s always been.
After two nights in Ferndale we headed down 101 to Marin County to celebrate the holiday. After a late start as it was hard to leave, we arrived in Novato at the Novato RV park after dark. The park is both a residential park and overnight park. It was packed and extremely challenging to navigate as vehicles were everywhere. Luckily some folks moved their rigs so we could actually get into our site.
We were hoping for a back-in for more privacy, however that would have meant extreme maneuvering and a fence to look at.
Christmas Eve lights in the atrium.
Christmas Eve dinner after I announced my retirement!
Letters to Santa.
Christmas morning!
December 26 and on the Golden Gate Bridge heading down the 101 to Santa Cruz.
Originally we had made reservations in Santa Cruz at SeaCliff SP. Those changed when the Governor changed the stay-at-home orders for Santa Cruz County which affected all the state parks. It was then a scramble to reevaluate and find other spots. We had heard about Costanoa, a KOA park from other folks so checked it out and managed to get a site for 3 nights. Site C57 was right next to a cabin. Next time we will try for site in Seascape Village. This would be a great place for a family reunion.
The Whitehouse Creek trail was full of rabbits and newts.
Also on the Whitehouse Creek are some chairs to take in the view.
A little color added to the Cloud. We even treated ourselves to take out at the Cascade Restaurant.
The trail to the water is gorgeous. We were on the Franklin Point trail, and even saw an elephant seal.
Headed up 1 to Cloverdale Rd, then into Pescadero, which was very crowded, then hiked around Butano Creek.
Wanted to go back to see if the Elephant Seal was still there and it had flipped to face the other way.
While John took a bike ride at Wilder Ranch, i checked out the ranch and these Red Hot Poker pods.
Headed into Santa Cruz for a quick lunch with John’s sister then went walking at Sea Cliff.
Leaving on December 29, we headed back north to Ft. Bragg. Reservations were made for two nights at Pomo RV Park as that’s all we could get. It was amazing how busy camping has become even in winter. It was an uneventful drive, but long. and we settled into our site just before dark. The sites at this campground are nice, private and ours had been recently graded.
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From the campground we hiked to the Gardens, which I highly recommend. We managed to do it before the rain came in.
There were so many plants to look at and take pictures of – Amanita muscaria by far was the most striking.
The trail skirts the ocean at places in the gardens.
After a late lunch we drove into a rainy Mendocino and visited the park visitor center, and walked around town.
Westport Union has no water where we were, and there were only two others in the campground.
Leaving Pomo in Ft. Bragg we headed north early hopeful to camp at Westport Union. We lucked out with a New Years Eve site with a great view. And the weather was perfect. We had lunchtime mimosas, went walking, watched the sunset and had a fabulous dinner.
Last day of 2020!
Last Sunset of 2020!
We headed to the Ferndale Fairgrounds for our first night of 2021 and a bit of rain. And yes we drove the road to Leggett from Westport.
First night of 2021 from Ferndale. The lighting was spectacular. Now to plan more adventures in 2021. And with retirement – the possibilities are endless.
