My Daily Bucket List Travelogue-October 12, 2009

Have you ever thought of taking a driving vacation? Jim and I have taken several; and one of the most memorable was driving up from San Diego up the coast of California and Oregon and visiting eight different lighthouses along our way.

I enjoy visiting the lighthouses because my great aunt's husband was the last lighthouse keeper of The Old Point Loma Lighthouse; so I guess I feel this family heritage somehow. Jim’s Dad had given us a book on the Pacific Coast Lighthouses, so we took that along and used it as a guide. It was quite interesting. I drove most of the way, and as we went along, Jim would read all about our next lighthouse and the area around it. It was a wonderful trip.

We drove up from San Diego on Interstate 5 and drove over to Monterey where we were able to visit with family. After our nice visit, we took off on our quest of California lighthouses.

Because we were already there, it seemed appropriate that the first lighthouse we visited on our trip was in Monterey, California. The small Point Piños Lighthouse sits alone on a grassy knoll facing the Pacific Ocean. It is similar in style to The Old Point Loma Lighthouse in that it has a small house as it's base with the tower coming out of the center of the house. It is the oldest continuous operating lighthouse in California. The grounds are nice to walk around, and inside the lighthouse you will find a very interesting museum. As we left, a couple of deer were meandering slowly across the grass and bending down to eat some grass. They were not frightened by us, and seemed very content to stay there until they were ready to move on.

Driving north of Monterey, the next lighthouse we came to was Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. Though we did not take the tour out there, we could see it from where we were at Pier 39.

As we drove north of San Francisco, Highway 1 takes a turn inland and you drive for many miles on Highway 101 where we drove through the magnificent Giant Redwoods. They are just incredible. The forest is thick with underbrush of dark, green ferns and moss; and as you walk down the path, you cannot help but realize how much rain this area must get during the year. These trees are hundreds of feet tall and have enormously wide bases. After we left the Redwoods, Highway 1 meandered out to the coast again and we drove along the dramatic cliffs jutting down into the Pacific Ocean. It is so beautiful that I wanted to stop at every turnout to take it all in.

As we drove out to the Pacific Coast and approached Eureka and Crescent City; small cities right along the shore, we found more lighthouses. Near Eureka, we visited the Trinidad Head Memorial Lighthouse at Trinidad State Beach. The current lighthouse is a replica of the original. It was reconstructed around 1950 out of concrete; and the Fresnel lens was placed inside of it. The fog horn bell was suspended in a separate wood frame adjacent to the lighthouse as a memorial to all those lost at sea. If you continue through town to the Coast Guard Station, you will find Trinidad Head Lighthouse out on a bluff. It is quite a dramatic setting on the steep cliffs and the waves of the Pacific Ocean crashing below. You can hike out to a viewing station where you get a really picture of the lighthouse on the bluff.

From Eureka we continued up a ways to Crescent City, a small fishing village on the ocean. The Battery Point Lighthouse is only accessible on foot and only at low tide. It has a Cape Code structure of brick and concrete and is similar in design to the Old Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego and the Point Piños Lighthouse in Monterey/Carmel.

Though our day was overcast and cloudy, it somehow seemed appropriate the farther north we drove. In Crescent City, we stopped at a small roadside restaurant and had some warm soup and delicious bread. It was the perfect meal for our relaxing drive that day.

Tomorrow, we shall continue our trip up the Pacific Coast and visit the lighthouses in Oregon.