Pilgrimage to Point Reyes
It all started with a movie - at the age of 12 I watched John Carpenter's THE FOG for the first time, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Adrienne Barbeau. The notion of a radio station inside a lonely lighthouse enchanted me, but the true lure and draw of the entire movie was its spectacular setting - especially the magnificent mile-long beach. I attentively studied the credits at the end of the movie and found where my pilgrimage should take me: POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE - and this pilgrimage still continues today some twenty years later.
This is indeed a journey off the beaten track - towards self-discovery and solitude - most visitors to California associate the region just north of the Bay Area with the NAPA wine country and high-end real estate in Marin County - but the entire peninsula of Point Reyes National Seashore is like a forgotten world jutting out and getting lost into the wide Pacific Ocean.
Our journey starts as always on the traditional Highway 101 - the most celebrated of all California Highways...approaching Point Reyes from either Novato or Petaluma in Marin County - childhood home to one of today's great actresses, Winona Ryder. It is also possible to reach the National Park on Highway 1, however, from either the South passing the Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods and Stinson Beach - or from the North after revisiting more great movie memories with Hitchcock's THE BIRDS in BODEGA BAY.
But all routes meet in POINT REYES STATION - what a gem of a community and even prettier and more picturesque today than a decade or two ago. Alternative coffee shops beckon with great fresh-ground brew and pastries - a nice refreshing break from the franchise cafes. The farmers' market also is highly appealing with fresh produce, much of it organically grown and not too pricey. Art galleries also abound - in ever-increasing number, but the village still retains a highly community-oriented dignified air to it. And then there is our all-time favorite restaurant serving fresh clam chowder, salmon and other seafood delicacies - THE STATION HOUSE CAFE. Any night of the week one is well advised to arrive early as usually every single table is taken immediately. No longer a secret, for sure, but still with the same high quality seafood at moderate to elevated prices and worth every penny.
Yet our real destination is further afield...as we head out right over the San Andreas Fault on Sir Francis Drake Highway, recalling the great British explorer and discoverer of these remote lands. The next community is INVERNESS - and yes, it all starts to look a lot like Scotland. No wonder. John Muir, who was born in Dunbar, Scotland and lived to become one of the greatest nature preservationists far ahead of his time, LOVED the area and worked tirelessly on its conservation. In Inverness we find a quaint old gas station from the 1950s and several small eateries catering predominantly to locals. As we continue on the highway and follow alongside TOMALES BAY - we see several houses right by the water - among them THE house featured in THE FOG. As we proceed on Sir Francis Drake Blvd we slightly gain in altitude as we climb away from Inverness passing shrubs and trees shaped by the incessant wind. Farms appear on both sides along with Radio transmission antennas and huge satellite dishes. Passing Drakes Estero with several minor bays, the land becomes narrower and water appears on both sides with intermittent turnoffs to Point Reyes BEACH North and SOUTH - THAT beach from THE FOG - miles and miles of stormy seashore with not a single soul once we move a few yards away from the parking lot. Walking along Point Reyes Beach fulfills a deep human desire for space, nature, solitude, reflection and self-discovery - there is hardly a better venue to embark on such a highly personal journey than here.
Yet the true highlight awaits us at Land's End - POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE, yes, THE lighthouse from the movie, although it is significantly smaller in real life than in THE FOG and certainly no radio station could fit into it. Descending down the stairs to visit the lighthouse offers us a true glimpse of infinity - the never-ending wide Pacific Ocean on almost 4 sides, except for the narrow staircase leading us down. Following timeless and unique moments of bonding with the elements of nature - OCEAN, SPACE, WIND, FOG...we return on Sir Francis Drake Blvd with a sense of empathy for what exploring the world's oceans must have felt like, and then approaching with anticipation Point Reyes Station for a wonderful dinner at the Station House Cafe to complete another Journey off the Beaten Track and yet another step closer to ourselves.
This is indeed a journey off the beaten track - towards self-discovery and solitude - most visitors to California associate the region just north of the Bay Area with the NAPA wine country and high-end real estate in Marin County - but the entire peninsula of Point Reyes National Seashore is like a forgotten world jutting out and getting lost into the wide Pacific Ocean.
Our journey starts as always on the traditional Highway 101 - the most celebrated of all California Highways...approaching Point Reyes from either Novato or Petaluma in Marin County - childhood home to one of today's great actresses, Winona Ryder. It is also possible to reach the National Park on Highway 1, however, from either the South passing the Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods and Stinson Beach - or from the North after revisiting more great movie memories with Hitchcock's THE BIRDS in BODEGA BAY.
But all routes meet in POINT REYES STATION - what a gem of a community and even prettier and more picturesque today than a decade or two ago. Alternative coffee shops beckon with great fresh-ground brew and pastries - a nice refreshing break from the franchise cafes. The farmers' market also is highly appealing with fresh produce, much of it organically grown and not too pricey. Art galleries also abound - in ever-increasing number, but the village still retains a highly community-oriented dignified air to it. And then there is our all-time favorite restaurant serving fresh clam chowder, salmon and other seafood delicacies - THE STATION HOUSE CAFE. Any night of the week one is well advised to arrive early as usually every single table is taken immediately. No longer a secret, for sure, but still with the same high quality seafood at moderate to elevated prices and worth every penny.
Yet our real destination is further afield...as we head out right over the San Andreas Fault on Sir Francis Drake Highway, recalling the great British explorer and discoverer of these remote lands. The next community is INVERNESS - and yes, it all starts to look a lot like Scotland. No wonder. John Muir, who was born in Dunbar, Scotland and lived to become one of the greatest nature preservationists far ahead of his time, LOVED the area and worked tirelessly on its conservation. In Inverness we find a quaint old gas station from the 1950s and several small eateries catering predominantly to locals. As we continue on the highway and follow alongside TOMALES BAY - we see several houses right by the water - among them THE house featured in THE FOG. As we proceed on Sir Francis Drake Blvd we slightly gain in altitude as we climb away from Inverness passing shrubs and trees shaped by the incessant wind. Farms appear on both sides along with Radio transmission antennas and huge satellite dishes. Passing Drakes Estero with several minor bays, the land becomes narrower and water appears on both sides with intermittent turnoffs to Point Reyes BEACH North and SOUTH - THAT beach from THE FOG - miles and miles of stormy seashore with not a single soul once we move a few yards away from the parking lot. Walking along Point Reyes Beach fulfills a deep human desire for space, nature, solitude, reflection and self-discovery - there is hardly a better venue to embark on such a highly personal journey than here.
Yet the true highlight awaits us at Land's End - POINT REYES LIGHTHOUSE, yes, THE lighthouse from the movie, although it is significantly smaller in real life than in THE FOG and certainly no radio station could fit into it. Descending down the stairs to visit the lighthouse offers us a true glimpse of infinity - the never-ending wide Pacific Ocean on almost 4 sides, except for the narrow staircase leading us down. Following timeless and unique moments of bonding with the elements of nature - OCEAN, SPACE, WIND, FOG...we return on Sir Francis Drake Blvd with a sense of empathy for what exploring the world's oceans must have felt like, and then approaching with anticipation Point Reyes Station for a wonderful dinner at the Station House Cafe to complete another Journey off the Beaten Track and yet another step closer to ourselves.
This week's blog is dedicated in loving memory to the late Tom & Phyllis Shannon of Sacramento, California, who took me on my first pilgrimage to Pt Reyes in 1987 - R.I.P.
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