On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
JanieM
The first morning after I arrived was Steve’s errand day, so we hopped in the car and headed to the coast first thing. My sleep schedule, unadjusted from Eastern time, was a good fit for the household, so I turned into a morning person for the duration.
It’s half an hour’s drive on hilly, curvy roads from Steve’s house to the Pacific Coast Highway, the coastal highway. I kept wanting to stop and take pictures of the morning mist hanging in the valleys, with the tips of the redwoods peeking through. But there wasn’t a safe place to stop, so I told myself to be patient, there would be plenty of time for mist and redwoods.
When we came to 101 I had my first taste of the feeling that came to define that coast for me: an expansive peacefulness of sea and sky that was very different from what I was used to in Maine. Early in our association, Steve had commented on the “dramatic” skies in my pictures. Later he gave the Atlantic coast the epithet “busy.” Now I knew why.
I had expected to land in California, meet my mentor and friend, and take a lot of pictures as easily and instinctively as I do at home. It turned out to be more complicated than that. The land, the trees, and the architecture are different, the coastline is different, the ocean is different. The coastline around Mendocino is rugged with cliffs and offshore stacks, and the breaking waves are a constant presence. But there’s a dreaminess to the place that I’ve never felt along the Atlantic, where the memory of shipwrecks and northeasters seems to float on the salt breeze.
The beauty was different here, understated and reserved, and it took me a while to realize that taking pictures would be different as well. At home I knew how every twig and pebble looked at all hours of the day and in every season; now I was learning that my picture-taking up to now had been an outgrowth of my intimacy with my home landscape. Now the landscape was new and unfamiliar; what that meant for taking pictures remained to be seen.
That first morning we drove north toward Fort Bragg, where grocery shopping awaited us. But Steve had something else in mind first. We drove a few miles further north and stopped at MacKerricher State Park to take pictures. It was my first practical taste of how much an unfamiliar landscape could challenge my skills, not to mention how it might feel to have another photographer at my shoulder.
We took pictures, bought groceries, and did a quick tour of the village of Mendocino, where Steve once owned the Café Beaujolais. I saw a lot of the places pictured in his photographs and started getting to know his world. I also started a new picture-taking quest: how to find the subtle beauties of a place I was just getting to know.
*****
Thanks as always to Steve for editing the pictures, and for other contributions too numerous to mention.
A Maine connection. From here:
In the northern reaches of Mendocino County, the lazy bends of the South fork of the Eel River separate the cool, fog-loving redwood forests to the west from the often sweltering Douglas-Fir hardwood forests to the east” … “With their family roots in the Maine woods and later the dog-hole port at Little River on the Mendocino coast, the Coombs family possessed a unique combination of brawling strength, intellect, duty to community, and above all, a rugged individualism.
From the inn’s website:
For more than 80 years our family has been welcoming guests to experience the beauty of the Mendocino Coast. The original house was built in 1853 by Silas Coombs, and has remained in our family ever since. Ole turned it into an inn in 1939, and we’re still happily on the job, doing what it takes to make you feel more than welcome.
View of the Pacific from the Inn’s parking lot.
South of Albion.
This and the next couple of pictures were taken that first morning, when Steve took me to some places along the coast as part of his weekly errand run. I was in an altered state of consciousness at seeing the Pacific again, at doing something mundane like grocery shopping with my online friend, and just generally at having been dislodged from a long, pandemic-driven isolation.
What a difference turning in the opposite direction makes!
Between Mendocino and Fort Bragg.
JanieM
Correction: We were on the Pacific Coast Highway, not US 101. I forgot to make the correction before uploading.
Okay, back to bed.
(fixed up top. WG)
Lininal Owl
Thank you for these photos, JanieM.
https://youtu.be/E4QSl5u3ofM
eclare
Love the Cuffey’s Cove photo. It’s so interesting to read about your trip!
JPL
Your pictures are amazing. Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Scout211
Thank you Janie M! Your photos are beautiful. I rarely comment on the OTR pics but I view them daily. I really enjoy seeing photos of places I have never visited, but it really touches my heart when I see pics like these that bring back years and decades of memories.
The NorCal coast is only few hours drive for us and it has always been a favorite of mine. We have made so many trips up and down Highway 1 from Bodega Bay to Mendocino and have camped at most of the state parks along the way. MacKerricher has always been one of our favorites.
So thanks for the memories. It was a really nice way to wake up this morning.
tybee
That highway gives this flatlander the heebee geebees.
eclare
@tybee: I don’t think I would like that highway either.
citizen dave
@tybee: My dad (just turned 90)–lifelong flatlander from IL and IN–told me once, after the fact, that he had a spin on wet pavement driving along the PCH on a vacation, turning round, into the ocean side lane, moving towards the ocean. Talk about the heebee geebees. I’m thinking he was in his 70s then.
I’ve (similar flatlander) only had the pleasure of driving various parts are few times, down to Monterrey, and once from SF up to Fort Bragg.
Beautiful indeed–thanks for the wonderful story and pictures!
Scout211
@tybee: @eclare:
We once visited the NorCal coast with my sister and BIL from Orlando. My BIL is one of those guys who insists that he be the driver, so we said fine. That did not last long on windy Highway 1 with so many exposures on top of the cliffs of the of the rugged coast. I took over driving after the second scary, windy turn.
There is one really bad stretch north of Bodega Bay to The Sea Ranch where you can get off Highway 1 and take a detour up to the top of the hills and drive that road to avoid some of the scary sections. The drive is much less scary, but you do miss some of the most beautiful coastal views. If you get carsick though, it’s a necessary alternate route.
eclare
@Scout211: Sounds like I should avoid Highway 1. Some of the scenes of the actors driving in Big Little Lies make me queasy.
Jager
We’ve rented a 19th-century house in the village of Westpoint (settled by loggers from Eastport, Maine) several times. West is just north of Fort Bragg with a population of 66. It’s just before the Lost Coast. We love it up there.
PaulB
Lovely story and lovely pictures. Thank you for both.
JanieM
@Lininal Owl: Thanks for that link — I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do. Their voices are gorgeous together. And the song — well….lots of nostalgia packed into it for me now. It’s such a beautiful place
WG — Thanks for the correction!
apieceofpeace
Lovely and so calming just looking and remembering (including a meal at Beaujolais) that area of CA. It’s captivating, over and over and over when driving on 1. Your photos remind me of those trips.
mvr
Nice! Many of the photos do a nice job capturing the coastal light.
Decayingviolets
Very special photographs. Have spent some vacation time in both Maine and Mendocino and your post helped me think about the visual differences between two beautiful places. Quite illuminating!
West of the Rockies
Gorgeous photos, JanieM! My wife and I frequently launch our kayaks under the bridge in your last shot (Russian Gulch).
JanieM
@West of the Rockies: I think you’ve mentioned that here, and now I even know where it is! Who knows, I might get a chance to do the same someday.
West of the Rockies
@JanieM:
I hope you do! Kayaking in a sea cave is ethereal and stunning.
munira
Beautiful photos and I particularly like your description of the difference in the feel of the west and east coasts. I’ve found that, too.
BruceFromOhio
Indeed! Beautiful, thank you for sharing these.
Yutsano
The turn around tree picture looks like you’re escaping from Mordor or something! Wonderful pics! It makes me want to re-visit California soon.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Small quibble from a lifelong N CA person who has lived in Mendocino County since 1976: I’ve always just called and heard Hwy 1 referred to as Hwy 1. I think of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCR) as being the Central and Southern CA part of Hwy 1 (Malibu, Big Sur, etc,). The road nonmenclature of N CA is different from S CA. Another example is that in S CA, they say The 101, The 405 (or The San Diego Freeway, etc.). Here in N CA, we say 101, Hwy 1 (no “The”).
But thanks for the OTR series. Your pictures are beautiful and really capture things on the coast. Being a lifelong Northern Californian, I would be really interested in hearing more about the differences you see and feel between Maine and Mendocino, since I’ve never been to Maine and have spent little time in New England, The pictures always look wonderful.
JanieM
Late getting back here, but thanks to everyone and I’m glad you enjoyed both the pictures and the memories they bring back.