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Travels

2.13.07 Here's a panorama near the north end of Point Reyes National Seashore, Kehoe Beach.

2.9.07 It has been raining steadily now for 3 days and nights and the wetlands near Olema are flooded and the spring frog chorus is in full throat.

2.6.07 We've been walking around Point Reyes National Seashore for a while. The terrain is varied, from great shaggy, epiphytic laden forests on the high ridges to open, savannah-like rangeland, to the shoreland and dunes. Here are some pictures.

One of the estuaries behind the dunes. It's a few miles to the bluffs in the distance. The brown, vegetated area nearest the water is submerged at high tides. Right at the verge of this, in saturated soils, we found meadows of armeria and limonium, quite small plants compared to our garden varieties, but a treat to find these garden favorite's wild cousins. In the foreground is delosperma, ice plant.

Here are a couple more ice plant images. The colors are not tweaked.

Drifts of ice plants in the dunes.

The dunes, in places, are covered with these wonderful grasses.

And a couple of Louise's abstracts of details at the shore.

1.27.07. The hens of Olema. These are the darling pets of our host here in Olema... 7 years old and not an egg in 2 years. These hens are having a glorious retirement. Maybe President Bush should invite our host, Kelly, down to Washington to consult on Social Security.

We can recommend Olema Cottages as a comfortable and friendly place to stay if you're north of San Francisco. A good location for an extended visit to Point Reyes National Seashore. http://www.olemacottages.com/

We went walking in the woods in Point Reyes National Seashore today. It rained last night, first rain in 3 weeks for this very thirsty area. The woods were full of mist and the mosses and lichens were swollen and turgid.

1.22.07. We spent the afternoon today walking the trails on the bluffs above the sea in the Presideo, the former military base comprising the the northwest corner of the city. It is a huge area with handsome cedars and fragrant eucalyptus and is now largely a public area. The Golden Gate Bridge crosses to the Marin headlands from here.

From the bluffs, just south of the bridge and looking out to the west, the land falls steeply to the sea. San Francisco is really the travelsperfect city for us. We find the beauty of the natural world close to hand and all the delights and distractions of the city within minutes of each other.