Going home, our last two days...

We left Vickie's on a very hot Tuesday morning, on the next leg of our journey. We traveled down Hwy 5 to Eugene, where we headed to the coast, and what we hoped were cooler temperatures! It was 105 when we turned off! We had a picnic at a roadside rest just north of Eugene, and all I can say is thank heaven's for shade!!

As we neared the coast the temperatures did cool. We stopped for the night in Bandon, right on the ocean. It was a beautiful evening, and we got the last room at the Bandon Inn! The proprietor recommended the Wheelhouse Restaurant for dinner, and made reservations for us. Bandon has a delightful "old town" area, and a great wharf and pier area. We enjoyed being out of the car and strolling around before dinner.

This is the Bandon waterfront.

We recommend the Wheelhouse for dinner the next time you are in Bandon! Lee had salmon, and I had crab Louie. We both passed on dessert, even though they had cheesecake AND peanut butter pie!!

The next morning we visited the Coquille lighthouse, at the mouth of the Coquille river. It's a cute little lighthouse, and although we didn't go up to the light, we learned about the history of the lighthouse.

Coquille lighthouse. You can see that we woke on Wednesday morning to FOG!! It was much cooler, although it did burn off later in the day.

We drove on down the coast, and stopped in Port Orford, where we visted the Hughes House and the Cape Blanco lighthouse

The Hughes house was quite interesting, and all original. It was built by some Irish immigrants, who had originally come to San Francisco during the gold rush. They eventually came to Port Orford, where they started a dairy, and shipped dairy products to San Francisco. We wondered how they got them to SF in those days, without spoiling, but the docent didn't know. Maybe lots of ice? One of the Hughes sons was assistant lighthouse keeper at Cape Blanco.

The lighthouse! This time we toured the lighthouse and went to the top where the lens is located.

Lots of steps up!

The Fresnel lens. Made in France, and shipped to Port Orford in pieces, and reassembled. Sadly, vandals broke into the lighthouse and used a hammer to damage the lens. Very costly repairs have been made, but there is still a lot of chipping on the glass. Apparently the son of the Chief of Police had the key, and he and his buddies decided it would be fun to destroy it. Federal offense, you know!

It's really quite beautiful, and capable of shining a light many miles out to sea. The docent told us that the Coast Guard is getting out of the lighthouse-keeping business, and that lighthouses are being maintained by local organizations. With the advent of GPS, lighthouses will soon be a thing of the past. Sad.

We continued down Hwy 101, destination: Benbow Inn!

When my parents lived in North Bend, we regularly drove up to see them, and I was always intrigued by the Benbow Inn, which sits against the mountains in Garberville, and alongside the Eel River. It's a stately old Inn, and when I mentioned to Mom, 30 years ago, that I would like to stay there, she said that "old people" stay there. Well, now, that's perfect!! We're old!! So we made reservations for Wednesday night.

The Benbow Inn! Just like I remembered it! It was built in 1926, and owned and run by the Benbow family until 1962, when they sold it. There have been 4 owners since, and each of them have added touches and improvements, while preserving as much of the original as possible, including the main building guest room doors, which were hand-painted by Eva Benbow. The Inn is furnished with antique furniture, and guest rooms have complimentary decanters of sherry! How very civilized! The lobby was beautiful, and you could just imagine it in the days of visits from Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Eleanor Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover!

Welcoming pot of geraniums.

Stone bridge over the Eel river. There's an old fashioned swimming hole on the river, and the guests were enjoying it!

The Eel river, with the freeway behind it.

This was the view from our room We dined at the table for two, along the railing, second umbrella from the left. Dinner was fabulous! Lee had risotto and I had salmon. And we were unable to pass up dessert, as they had an amazing cocoanut cheesecake with caramelized pineapple! Yum!! At least we shared it - and left one bite......

Breakfast was in the dining room (we decided that was in deference to any late sleepers), and this view of the terrace was from the balcony of the dining room.

Very inviting!

Here's the lounge - note the bear on the bar stool! :)

The gracious lobby.

The Benbow bears!

The fireplace. I'm quite sure that the Benbow Inn is just spectacular when it's dressed up for the holidays, with a roaring fire! There were lots of little tables, set up with board games and puzzles. You can see the chess board in this picture. Also lots of books and alcoves for reading. Our room had a basket of books as well. If you were in the middle of reading one, you were invited to take it home, and mail it back.

Thursday morning. Good bye, Benbow Inn! We'll be back!!

After leaving Garberville, we again headed to the coast. We traveled down Highway 1, and saw sights along the way.

This is the Masonic building in Mendocino. You can see that the fog is lifting, and there's lots of blue skies.

The Point Arena lighthouse! This is not the original lighthouse. The original was damaged so badly during the 1906 earthquake that it had to be torn down and re-built.

This is the first order Fresnel lens that was housed in the lighthouse until last year, when it was replaced by a puny little halogen lamp. Sad.

The view from the top! We climbed 143 steps to get to the top of the lighthouse, and the views made every step worth it. We were able to go out onto the cat walk at the top, too.

Skeleton of a whale.

Here's the little light, which shines 16 miles out to sea, instead of 22. I learned that each lighthouse beacon has a unique light frequency. This one has a double flash, every 6 seconds. A sea captain would see the double flash, note that it was every 6 seconds, and learn from his log that he was at Point Arena! Amazing! Similarly, fog horns have unique sounds that are also identifiable! So, even in a thick fog, you can know where you are by the sound of the foghorn!

Look where this little light was made! In New Zealand! The small lights, while not nearly as romantic, are much lighter and easier to operate than the old Fresnel lens.

After the lighthouse tour, we continued down Hwy 1 to Jenner, where we headed inland, to catch hwy 101 for the final leg of our journey. We went through Guerneville, Forestville, and other little towns that I hadn't been in for decades! The growth was amazing! We were amazed at how much Sebastopol has grown - they even have gelatto!! Which was very good!

Soon we were crossing the Golden Gate bridge and driving down 19th Avenue. A quick stop at the grocery store in Pacifica, and then we were home!!

It was an amazing trip! Looking back, I can see 4 main themes to the trip: family, old friends, gardens and mountains! We had lots of picnics, saw lots of amazing scenery, and aside from the last few days, didn't spend more than 3 or 4 hours a day in the car.

We're already talking about doing it again next summer. This time we'll travel UP the Oregon coast and stop at all of those gorgeous beaches we saw on the way down! : )

And the total miles of this trip, an amazing 3,240! Wow...