Itching to travel but not quite ready to head out internationally, I decided to travel domestically and check off a long-desired bucket list trip. I have visited California many times over the last 30+ years, mostly short business and leisure trips, however nothing as lengthy as a road trip through the northern and southern California coastline. Originally, I was hoping to make this a 21-day road trip but had to change plans due to circumstances that I will explain later. Part one of this road trip, consisting of 10 days, is the northern part of California. The central and southern parts of California will be done early next summer.

 

Coastal California

The map posted for this story is not exactly the route and stops that I plan to make over the entire two-part adventure. In fact, I plan to remain only on the coastline and stop at many more cities. First stop was the city of Eureka. Yup, the one they talk about on the Netflix romance series Virgin River (by the way, the river does not exist). Moved up a bit north to visit the Trinidad coast and then slowly paced my way to Ferndale, known for its Danish Victorian architecture and dairy farms. From there made my way to the Mendocino Coast for more redwoods and beaches, then to Santa Rosa, Sonoma and Napa for wine tasting and eventually crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco for a final day of exploration.

During these first 10 days, there were plenty of towering redwoods, deserted beaches, scenic coastal towns, vineyards, farms, culinary explorations, site -seeing tours, art galleries, museums, boutique and antique shopping as well as plenty of hikes, and walks. As expected, I have documented this road trip with plenty of photos and stories. In the past, when traveling, I had posted daily stories and photos on Facebook. Instead, the stories and photos will wind up on the blog, starting with next month September newsletter (sorry, not enough time to get much done before our monthly deadline).

 The second part of this journey will be planned in June or July. The original plan was to do the entire road trip, but I experienced some health issues that required me to limit the trip to 10 days (best to listen to your body than to overdo it).

The next 10+ days (the details are far from being completed) will take me through central and southern California heading to Monterey and the Big Sur to see its beaches, wildlife, catching sunsets near Morro Rock Bay heading south. Discovering new towns, sites and scenic roads and beaches gradually getting to Santa Barbara, then to Los Angeles and a final stop in San Diego. No doubt, this entire road adventure will be an expensive trip, my revenge on COVID.

 

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