Cabrillo Point Light Station

As I'm writing this post, we've moved on to Crescent City, California. Today we will drive a little over 300 miles to arrive home at the Three Cats Ranch. We've only been gone for 3 1/2 weeks, but it seems like longer. We've packed a lot of sight-seeing into this trip. In my last post, I mentioned that the internet was flaky at our last stop in Fort Bragg. As it turned out, that was the last chance I had to be online until now, and so I'm about three posts behind telling you what's been going on. For now, I'm backing up to our hike/visit to the Cabrillo Point Light Station.

We parked at the far end of the parking lot, and so we didn't realize it, but we were taking the long road around to the lighthouse.

Along the way we saw some beautiful wildflowers and this interesting thing. What do you suppose this is? It appears to have thorns, but they were soft to touch, and not prickly. It was also soft to press, like a ripe avocado. Mike considered picking one and cutting it open, but there was a no-picking-the-flowers rule as well as a no-gathering rule, and so he was a good citizen and left it alone.

A little ways down the trail, we found one on the ground. It had either been cut open by a human or torn open by an animal, and so we weren't sure if they are hollow inside like this or if some animal gutted it.

So, I have no answer for this mystery fruit...maybe one of you knows what it is. Of course, we saw more California poppies. Is it any wonder they are California's state flower?

Eventually, we started seeing the red roofs on the structures at the light house station.

Also, we saw this low-growing evergreen shrub. It had nearly perfectly round pine cones about the size of a ping pong ball.

And these little purply things...about the size of a quarter.

Also, wild iris.

Oy...yikes! That's one way to keep folks on the trail. It was about here that we figured out we'd taken the long road, and we were tempted to cut across the field. Then we saw this sign. Until then, I hadn't noticed anything, but right away, I was sure things were crawling on me and I started to itch. Fortunately, the west coast hasn't seen outbreaks of Lyme Disease in the way the east coast has. Still...I'll pass, thanks.

From here, I was able to get a shot of the light as it turned. Only two misfires, and the third shot was a charm.

It was just as well we'd taken the long road, which looped back toward the lighthouse along this beautiful headland. All of these coastal areas in Northern California have been stunningly beautiful.

Here's another wildflower. As I said in an earlier post, the wildflowers have thrilled me on this trip.

These little orange guys were tiny...smaller than a dime.

Eventually, we came to the constellation of buildings comprising the lighthouse "station". One included a sea life exhibit with an aquarium showing the sorts of critters you might see while tide pooling.

The lighthouse was next. The bottom part of the structure contained a gift shop. The lighthouse keepers house(s) were farther up the path. Had we gone the right way, we would have passed them first.

This lighthouse required round-the-clock tending since the "clock" had to be wound every one-hour and forty minutes. It has the same Fresnel lens we saw in an earlier lighthouse.

A relatively modern structure, it was built and put into service in the 1930's. Here is some information about the lighthouse.

And conservation efforts.

This is the wife of the first lighthouse keeper...in other words, the woman who had my job.

Around back of the lighthouse was this prehistoric looking plant.

Here's a look at its flower.

And here's the lighthouse from the back side.

I love those little windows at the rooftop.

We weren't able to go into the next two structures, but they are available for vacation rentals. Folks are also invited to come out here for weddings and other special events. Wouldn't this be a lovely site for a wedding?

This bicycle reminded me of the one I stitched for the Bee-utiful Quilt-Along.

We were able to go into the third structure.

Those naughty squirrels!

Just inside was the "laundry room."

Here's the kitchen:

This is the sign on the opposite wall. If you ask me, those 6:00 a.m. chores sound like "Man's Work."

This was a little sitting room/parlor.

Across the hall was another. We weren't able to go upstairs, and so there were no bedrooms to see in this structure.

Behind us was an office.

This was the front door entryway.

Look at this sign next to the quilt in the baby carriage.

I knew you'd want to see the quilt close-up.

Also, this one in the other room.

At first, I thought these structures behind might have been carriage houses, but this is where the coal was stored.

From there, we made our way back to the parking lot and on to other things. We took a little walk around the campground that evening. Along the way, we saw this:

Just beautiful.

There are still some things I want to tell you. There's the quilt shop in Fort Bragg, and we visited yet another lighthouse yesterday after we arrived in Crescent City. We had to arrive during low tide to get out to see it, and we made it with no problem. This morning, we're hitching up to head for home, but first, we're going back to the lighthouse and see it when the tide is up. I'll have some pictures of the lighthouse, and also some pictures of our drive to Crescent City yesterday, but those will have to wait until we get home.