Point Reyes National Seashore

Mom chose an excellent destination for a weekend trip - Point Reyes National Seashore, not far north of San Francisco.  Kip had a long weekend and happily was able to join us.

Heading north in the sunshine:

We started out on the Earthquake Trail next to the visitor center, but I neglected to get a photo of the fence (or replica of the fence) that became offset by 16-something feet during the earthquake of 1906.

Next up - a hike to the top of Mount Wittenberg.  A super nice hike but no views at the top.  Except of us in the trees:

And a second pose for good measure (that's what you get when there's no scenery to be had):

Look ma, scenery!  The seashore in the distance as we descended via a different trail:

Lovely day for a walk in the woods:

We were pretty amazed at the number of cars parked by the beach, but the masses were spread out over enough distance that it didn't seem crowded:

Pretty surf, coming in slowly:

An impromptu Valentine's "gift" for Mom:

Very sweet:

Happy V-Day!

The next morning we started at the Patrick Visitor Center where we would pick up a shuttle out to the lighthouse.  We were quite surprised to see elephant seals hanging out on the beach next to the visitor center, very cool to have a close-up look:

This one apparently was ready for a change from sand all the time:

The pretty lighthouse at Point Reyes:

It's possible there is a peregrine falcon somewhere on the rocks in the background, but I think John was more concerned about getting a decent picture of us:

West side seashore along the Pacific Ocean:

The 2nd stop on the shuttle bus route was at the Elephant Seal Overlook, which was fascinating.  We could hear the seals from a ways away as they made the funniest noises (I think that was mostly the young ones).  There were spotting scopes set up so everyone could get a good look:

Masses of elephant seals lying around on the beach, occasionally exhibiting short bursts of energy before resting again.  We spent a while watching them:

One last walk, to Abbotts Lagoon where we saw several kinds of birds.  Including the state bird, a bevy of California quail, awesome!  They were so pretty in the binoculars, although too far away for a good photo.

Here's the marsh instead:

What a wonderful weekend at Point Reyes!