Wright’s Beach

Well that was a nice place! I’m thinking this campground is now my official Favorite Place (yes, caps, because that’s how strongly I feel about it). I can’t be sure if my enthusiasm is purely due to the idyllic setting, or whether I really needed a break from the internet (there was no cell service for either of us down at the beach). Either way, it’s a keeper.

California has gone from extreme drought to extreme rain this past month, but we got a gorgeous break and perfect weather this weekend. I reserved this site six months ago, exactly when the reservation window opened up. I can absolutely see why these go so fast and I will be shooting for more visits in the future. We didn’t get rolling until late afternoon on Friday and drove a good part of the way in the dark. We had to be careful to avoid flooded sections of the route and went all the way up to Sebastopol before heading West to the coast. We had been advised that there was “a little river” running through our site, due to recent rains, but that it was still usable. We actually really liked the little river and called it “Water Feature #1”. The full on spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean was “Water Feature #3”.

The site was so glorious, we didn’t even close the curtains on the ocean side and woke to the sights and sounds of crashing waves maybe 100′ away from us. Saturday was occupied with bicycling for Richard and a bit of peaceful mischief making for me. Let’s just say it was an inspiring way to spend a day on the beach with like minded folks. I got to hang out with good friends for lunch and then took a romantic walk on the beach again when Richard returned from his ride. The solar at our site was awesome and the battery fully recharged to 100% by the afternoon.

Saturday night, I cooked a Blue Apron meal and got to test out a new non-stick version of our magma skillet. Thumbs way up there. The rest of the set is stainless steel and we like that for durability, but having one nice non stick piece for frying and high heat cooking made clean up tons easier. We watched a couple episodes of “Lost” after dinner and Richard commented that our site was just like being shipwrecked on an island. I pointed out that we might enjoy being shipwrecked as long as we had a refrigerator, hot water heater, 2″ wool mattress topper, and espresso machine. We agreed there was still something to be said for civilization, as we munched on our snickerdoodles and I sipped cold Chardonnay.

As we were drifting off to sleep, we both heard what sounded like a blood curdling scream coming from right next to us. When you are hearing impaired and have taken your hearing aides out for the night, you have to ask, “Was that a blood curdling scream I just heard?” because you really can’t be sure. But Richard heard it too. Right away though, we heard the same noise coming from very far off, and from the sky. Then again, from much farther. So I’m figuring it must have been an owl and not something terrifying and supernatural, but it took some convincing, there in the dark, before I decided that for sure and was able to fall asleep. I’m thinking Barn Owl because I listened to recordings and that was the closest to what I thought I heard. Exciting!

Sunday we again woke to paradise through the windows. We gave a couple tours, brushed off a lot of sand, and headed to Bodega Dunes so we could dump tanks (there is no dump at Wright’s Beach). There we stopped for lunch and Richard’s noon time espresso. Then home again. We’ll see what happens next weekend. CA is pretty well saturated and there’s more rain on the way. Looks like a spillway at Lake Oroville is dangerously close to giving way and the campground at Clear Lake, where I had a site reserved for the long weekend, has been closed.

Yay California?

Total miles: 88.2, 15.8 mpg, 2 hours 36 min. Site: 9. Sites 5-9 are spectacular. 1-4 ok, 10 a bit small and uneven but maybe doable. No cell service in the campground, but Verizon in some places on the beach and good Verizon as soon as you go up to Highway 1.