B & E California Bound: February 2017

Getaway trips are fun, but every day here at home brings its own satisfactions. From chances to document our grandson Stanton's growth, to the ever-changing scenes in the Oakland hills, we enjoy them all.

Stanton was born December 7, 2016. Here are some early photos:

Ready to come home from the hospital

At 3 days old

At 5 days old

At 8 days old

On Christmas Day

On January 7

And some more recent ones:

On February 7

On February 13 - having fun watching Grammy eat lunch

On February 18

Jigsaw puzzles are now among our favorite rainy day activities:

Erick & Erika put in the last few pieces of a 1000 piece puzzle

Here are the 5 we've finished so far:

The winter rains have made for some fascinating cloud patterns and sunsets:

Rainy, windy weather

Hail on the deck - an unusual site

Rainbow after the storm

Canyon clouds

Disappearing ridge

Morning clouds over Mt Diablo

Sunset between rainy days

What does this cloud look like to you?

Clouds in late afternoon

Pineapple Express day sunset

Popcorn clouds

Some recent rainbows:

This one is a double - a faint one above the more visible one

This is the first rainbow we've seen that appears close to and behind the ridge

Northern California is currently on pace to have the wettest water year on record. The "atmosphere river", aka "Pineapple Express", phenomenon is doing it's thing. Quite a change from the drought conditions in 2014 when we moved here.

Update: today, February 26, we hiked along Palo Seco Creek in Joaquin Miller Park. The white water in the creek was evidence of the recent rains. The trail we took starts out close to the creek and goes up hill from there.

Erick near a stand of Redwoods and sorrel ground cover

Recently uprooted tree along the trail

Views from an outcropping above the creek

The creek would have looked quite different last summer when we were still in drought conditions.

A whale-watching trip has been on our California to-do list ever since we arrived in February 2014. Three weekends ago, we took advantage of a break in the winter rains to visit the Mendocino County coast.

We stayed at the Headlands Inn bed and breakfast in Mendocino, and hiked the Headlands Park trails. We made side trips to Albion for a sunset dinner, and Fort Bragg for a visit to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens and whale-watching out of the Noyo River harbor. Our return trip down Hwy 1 took us through Point Arena where took a break to visit the lighthouse, and past the Chapel at Sea Ranch where we made another short stop. We left Hwy 1 at Bodega Bay to head for Hwy 101 and the rest of the route back to Oakland.

The following weekend, we made a short visit to the Lafayette Reservoir to see what difference this year's rains have made. The water level seemed higher. The chance to photograph pelicans and a heron was a nice side benefit. On the way home, we stopped at the nearby Orchard Nursery to pick up some new plants.

Last weekend, we got another break in the rainy weather and used the opportunity to go to Golden Gate Park. It's a large park, about 20% bigger than Central Park in New York City. To quote Wikipedia: Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, is a large urban park consisting of 1,017 acres of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development of Golden Gate Park.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from each of the trips, followed by a link to the complete collection.

Mendocino County:

The Headlands Inn
We stayed in the Bessie Strauss suite (bay windows on 2nd floor)

Our in-suite breakfast the first morning.
The other breakfasts were just as awesome.

Mendocino Bay

The Pacific coast from Mendocino Headlands Park

A raven at the Headlands park
I have had no luck getting good photos of the ravens that hang around our roof at home.

Mendocino Main Street viewed from the Park

The Kelly House museum and one of the many water towers in town.
The towers are from the early days of Mendocino and many have been converted to other purposes.

The Masonic Hall with it's rooftop statuary

After the day of hiking and looking around Mendocino,
we headed south a bit for a sunset dinner at the Albion River Inn.

Erick at the gate to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg

A planting at the Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens' Water Dragon

Rhododendron in bloom

The Botanical Gardens trail makes a loop out to the coast.
It's well worth the hike.

Captain Tim's Sea Hawk - the boat we took whale watching

Me waiting for the other passengers to get aboard

Erick perched to watch for gray whales

Our first critter sighting - seals on a bouy

Sun on the water as we headed back to the Noyo River wharf after
almost two hours of watching, but no whales.

We finally spotted some whales just before it was time to return to the dock.
Captain Tim gave us an extra half hour to view them and I got a few photos.
This one shows the back, blowhole and spot of the gray whale.