It’s not the fastest route, but it is an adventurous one. Rather than taking the “destination bound” I-5 or even Highway 101 from Seattle to San Francisco we chose State Route 1. We looked for opportunities to show you just how steep and windy it is, but couldn’t find one. For those of you who have never traveled it, it is full of steep grades and hairpin turns. You find yourself going 15 mph much more often than 35, and rarely do you hit the posted speed limit of 45 mph – at least not in a big truck!
The scenery has been beautiful, and today it included LOTS of heavy fog. In the first picture of this post you see what looks like fog over the mountain, but as you’ll see in the next picture, it was really right along the coast. We took the first picture, then waited a little less than 10 minutes for the fog to dissipate and took the second one, where you can see the waves lapping the rocks. Pretty cool.
A little further down the road we came upon the Fort Ross State Park. Fort Ross was originally a Russian outpost built to supplement and supply Russian fur trade operations in Alaska. How many of you students of history knew that in the late 1700s and 1800s Russians attempted to establish a strong hold on what is now the west coast of the US? They began with fur trade operations in Alaska before moving into California and negotiating with Mexicans for property there. For a variety of reasons they ultimately abandoned these efforts, but the Fort plays witness to this piece of American history. There was a group of private school elementary kids enjoying a field trip while we were there. It was fun to see the kids and chaperones all dressed in period garb, preparing what would have been a traditional meal for the original residents, using the same cooking methods they would have.
JodockWorldTravel 