Category: Lighthouses
Point Loma and the SoCal Coast
For President’s day weekend, we decided to head down to San Diego. The plan was to drive down the coast, to see the rest of California’s coastline, and also to see the new and old Point Loma lighthouses.
We started out driving Friday afternoon after work, headed to Santa Barbara. It seemed like a good halfway point between the bay area and San Diego. Not to mention, we hadn’t seen the coastline south of Santa Barbara, nor had we driven the parts of Highway 1 south of there.
We got into Santa Barabara Friday night and prepared for a long day on Saturday.
Early Saturday morning, we headed to the Worker Bee Cafe in Carpinteria, a lovely family owned restaurant. We enjoyed a great breakfast, then hit the road, driving all along the coast and Highway 1.
The southern California coast was mostly sandy, at times pebbly, with some rocky areas, but rather unrugged. There were some really nice waves in many areas, almost like blankets right on top of each other. Aliso beach, in particular, had some really high swells.
We passed by lots of homes, supported by beams, facing the ocean. Along the drive were many rises and descents, from small hills to mountains. It was sunny and warm the entire drive. It was right around the mid-high 70s the entire weekend down south.
Unfortunately, many stretches of Highway 1 run inland (we often cut off Highway 1 to see the coast, and came back where we left off), and we effectively just drove through city streets with traffic lights slowing us down at every block. It was an extremely slow drive.
Right around Dana Point we pulled over at a nice cafe for an energizing sugary stop. Afterwards we hit the road going south, and a half mile later, we finished the rest of Highway 1. I hope to never drive this part of Highway 1 again, but was extremely happy to have driven all 656 miles of Highway 1: starting at roughly Leggett in the north, and ending roughly at Dana Point in the south. Over the last few years, with our various lighthouse or coastal trips, we had managed to drive all parts of this road.
Down what was then called the Coast Highway, we continued along the coast, to get to the southwest strip of land, just west of San Diego. Driving through much more of the same- sandy coastline, tons of stop lights, lots of people and restaurants, we eventually reached Cabrillo National Park, where the two Point Loma lighthouses could be seen. The park closes at 5pm and we got there at 4:45pm, having taken a significantly longer time than expected to reach this destination.
We parked the car and were immediately able to see the old Point Loma Lighthouse. We climbed inside it, and by the time we came out, it was 5pm. As I could not bare to leave the park without seeing the new Point Loma, I quickly ran to a vista point, despite a coast guard gentleman calling out to me not to do so as they were closing. I was ecstatic to see new Point Loma from the lookout point some few hundred yards into the closed area. Worse yet, I was determined to run back and get the camera from Tobia to take some pictures. I pleaded with the coast guard to let me go back to the vista point with the camera, promising to run both ways and be really quick. He reluctantly agreed and I was most thankful to be able to snap some pictures.
Old Point Loma Lighthouse
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Old Point Loma Lighthouse
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New Point Loma Lighthouse from vista point
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New Point Loma Lighthouse from vista point
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Totally happy to have snapped pics of New Point Loma Lighthouse, but also out of breath from so much running
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Looking out east at San Diego from Cabrillo National Park
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Following this extreme running high and being out of breath, we were led to the parking lot and left the park. From there it was off to San Diego, where we pulled into the Gaslamp quarters, checked into our awesome Ivy Hotel, and had an incredible outdoor dinner at an Italian restaurant in the quarters.
We were exhausted at the end of this long day and slept really hard.
Central, South Oregon Coast — Day 5
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
Again, we woke up at 6am this morning, rushing to get out of our extremely nasty motel in Florence, OR. We started driving down 101 South, headed towards Cape Arago Lighthouse. We were eventually able to see the lighthouse on its bluff from a nice lookout point. That was as close as we could get.
Following the lighthouse, we headed south to Bandon. Tobia had read the night before that there were some nice rocks out there off Beach Loop Drive, so we decided to check those out. We saw a rock called Face Rock, which really did look like a face looking up at the sky. There were dozens of other beautiful monoliths in the area.
Rock formations
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Coquille River Lighthouse
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Face Rock
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Closer look at Face Rock
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On our drive down to the next lighthouse, we came across Battle Rock at Port Orford. This was a nice big rock with lots of trees sticking out of it, at the end of the little town. People were sitting all along the main street, waiting for what appeared to be a 4th of July parade.
The next stop along 101 South was Cape Blanco Lighthouse. This one was reachable, and we got to take many pictures and see it from many angles. The surroundings to the north and south were very nice, with lots of small islets. Knowing this would be a long day, we continued on south to Samuel H. Boardman scenic park, just north of Brookings, which is just 6 or so miles north of California.
Cape Blanco Lighthouse in the distance
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Interesting rock formation near Cape Blanco Lighthouse
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Cape Blanco Lighthouse
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The Boardman scenic park was spectacular! We got to see Arch Rock as well as unique other rocks that had trees coming out of their tops. Quite a unique set of rocks. Tobia seems to really enjoy these rugged rocks with a single tree sticking out of them, so we went in pursuit of quite a few of those.
Rock formations
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Arch Rock
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Tree-topped rock formation
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Natural Bridges
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From the scenic park, we zoomed into California, past Crescent City and all the towns we saw two years ago on our CA coast trip. We pulled into Garberville (unfortunately our favorite restaurant in the area, Mateel’s Cafe was closed due to 4th of July) to eat some pizza in the small main street area at Sicilito’s Pizzeria.
Afterwards, it was on to 271W to cross from Leggett to Westport. Right before Westport, we got to see the actual spot where the Lost Coast ends and the Mendocino Coast begins. The difference in rock structure and slope is really noticeable. We stepped out to take pictures, walk around to loosen up, and continued on about 5 miles south to our Inn at Westport.
We had passed by Westport 2 years ago, but never took the time to explore it. Well, we had a chance to do that and thought it quite charming. There is a small headlands area, a grocery store, and a small population of folks. The inn keeper was one of the most easy going people I’d ever met, having stepped out for 4th of July celebrations (presumably) and simply leaving the key inside the room for us, along with a note saying to come in and make ourselves at home (and that we would settle the bill later).
Completely exhausted by 4 days of lots of walking, driving and sight-seeing, we went in and crashed for the night.
North, Central Oregon Coast — Day 4
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
The alarm clock went off at 6am this morning. 20 minutes later we were having breakfast downstairs at our hotel. By 6:45am we had already left Portland and were on our way to the coast and Seaside. The plan was to start at the north of the state and work our way down to Florence, Oregon, about halfway down the coast. The idea was to see at least Cape Meares, Yaquina Head and Heceta Head Lighthouses.
Chapman Point at Ecola State Park
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Northern view of Ecola State Park
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Postcard: Tillamook Rock Lighthouse
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Postcard: Tillamook Rock Lighthouse
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As we had done the previous days, we drove through acres upon acres of trees and national parks. Around 8:15 we got into Ecola State Park where we saw our first views of the Oregon coast. The views were gorgeous, more spectacular than I had seen in pictures and imagined. We walked around the trails for a while, enjoyed the views, and eventually decided to make the Catslop loop that would take us to the closest lookout onto Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.
Ultimately, despite walking for close to 2.5 tiring hours, we could not see the lighthouse, because it was unbearably foggy. I think the visibility could not have been more than 15 feet. Tired, we returned to the car in search of haystack rock and some food.
We drove a few miles south to Cannon Beach and had to walk as close as we could to the haystack rock, because the beach was unbearably foggy as well. I collected an uncomfortable amount of sand in my shoes on the walk to the rock. After returning to the main street, we stopped by at a nice bagel and coffee shop for some bagels and to hit the road again.
On the drive down to see Cape Meares Lighthouse, we made dozens of stops along view points and the coast in general to take pictures and see the Oregon Coast. It was quite beautiful, but I thought it was most so around Central Oregon.
After what seemed like at least a few hours, we finally made it to our first lighthouse- Cape Meares. It was a nice lighthouse and I loved the surroundings, which included some monoliths and rugged rocks to the north and south. About 1/4 mile up the hill from the lighthouse is the Octopus Tree- a weird looking, multi-branched tree that is unlike any I’ve ever seen. We took some pictures, hung around and ultimately hit the road for Yaquina Head Lighthouse.
View of the cliffs around Cape Meares Lighthouse
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Rock formations at Cape Meares Lighthouse
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Giant rock near Cape Meares Lighthouse
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Octopus Tree
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Some 2.5 hours later, we reached Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Again, in the process, we stopped repeatedly to look at the coast at just about every possible stop. The lighthouse is located in a National Park, and at the end of the large Yaquina Head rock. The lighthouse itself was very well preserved, tall, and quite nice. Its surroundings were also nice, less attractive than Cape Meares’ though.
Cape Foulweather with Yaquina Lighthouse in the distance
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Yaquina Lighthouse in the distance
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Yaquina Lighthouse
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On our final long drive of the day, we headed to Heceta Head Lighthouse. That drive seemed to take forever, because I believe the most beautiful part of the Oregon coast (at least to this point) is between these two lighthouses. I think Cape Perpetua is magnificent. In particular Cooks Chasm was one of the nicest coastal destinations I’ve ever seen!
Shortly after Cape Perpetua, we reached Heceta Head Lighthouse. I was so excited, I climbed some dangerous rocks to get unique views of the lighthouse. Heceta Head Lighthouse is truly unbelievably beautiful. The only other lighthouse in its league is Point Conception, I believe. It is perched on an awesome, rugged rock, with some monoliths in the area and at the north end of a tiny cove. I couldn’t get enough of it.
Scaling the rocks around Heceta Head Lighthouse
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Heceta Head Lighthouse
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Heceta Head Lighthouse
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Heceta Head Lighthouse
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Heceta Head Lighthouse in the distance
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When we finally got our fill of the lighthouse, we went to check into our (nasty) motel, went to have buffet dinner at a casino, fueled and headed back to the motel to crash after a tremendously fulfilling, exciting, but exhausting day.