Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

I will try to run yesterday's ill fated entry in reverse, as that is what we did today on the drive home.

Walking along the boardwalk in the morning fog when everything is closed is probably not the recommended way to visit it. It's a bit like visiting Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the cold, hard light of dawn. The hot dog on a stick/funnel cake/chocolate covered bacon/salt water taffy stands were all closed and shuttered. Security guards patrolled in a desultory way, choosing to ignore the small groups of disheveled looking people gathered on the sand under the boardwalk. The roller coasters/tilt-a-wheel/ferris wheel/carrousel were silent and still. We all remembered going there, or to similar places, as teenagers, or even with our own young children, but in its early morning state of suspended animation it more accurately portrayed us in our advancing years….

Just up the coast is the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, built in 1872. I commented to OilMan that I find lighthouses rather romantic, but he was under no such illusions, preferring instead to quote facts. At 115 feet, it is one of the tallest lighthouses in America with a 15 foot tall, 6 foot diameter Fresnel lens. Although its five wick lard oil lamp and lens no longer shine, it is still an active U.S. Coast Guard aid to navigation, using a 24 inch Aero Beacon. Frankly, I'd rather imagine the lighthouse keeper and his wife struggling up the stairs in a raging storm to light that lard oil lamp….

The rocky cliffs and inlets, covered with birds and sea lions are spectacular, especially in the sunshine, which has banished the early morning mist. Año Nuevo State Park, is home to a large colony of elephant seals, which come ashore to give birth and mate in the winter. At this time of year, their enormous bodies can be seen lolling about on the rocks in the distance. Pelicans gather in a nearby lagoon by the hundreds. Once threatened with extinction by the pesticide, DDT, they seem to have made a great comeback since its use was banned in the 1970's.

Through the new Devil's Slide tunnels, built to replace the old road which washed out regularly, stranding several coastal communities, past Ocean Beach, through Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, my hopes of stopping for lunch and an unusual shot of the bridge at Cavallo Point Lodge were dashed as OilMan swept over the bridge and on up the road to Santa Rosa. Once the man is headed for home there is just no stopping him….

*I put a couple of shots of the Gate Bridge in my Blipfolio here since they turned into the Santa Cruz Boardwalk yesterday.