Westport-Union Landing State Beach

Just North of Fort Bragg, before Highway 1 heads inland to 101, there’s some lovely first-come, first-serve camping at Westport-Union Landing State Beach. There are a few different camping lots, so I selected the one with the least amount of campers and ocean side parking for the view.

After settling in, I went down to the beach to enjoyed the waves and walked about half the length before my legs got sore from the sand giving away with each step. I found a great rock to sit up against and watched the ocean waves crash for an hour.

Once back at the van, I read my new book Blue Mind for awhile, took Maverick for a walk, and then cooked dinner. Ended the night with a foggy sunset and a fire pit. I love how the flames reflected off my van! 

Check out my Instagram post for more photos!

Fort Bragg & Ocean Views

I enjoyed a lovely lunch with beach front views in Fort Bragg last week after a wonderful camping experience in the Timber Cove area. Despite the foggy weather along most of the coast, there was a nice patch of blue skies in Fort Bragg with the fog layer over the ocean.

As I drove off from Ocean Cove earlier that morning, I took some photos looking back at the beautiful campground on the cliff. The pics I took don’t so it justice but it gives you an idea of how cool the place is.

I always love it when you come around a bend and see the beautiful California coastline, so I couldn’t help taking pics whilst I was driving.

See my Instagram post for all these photos!

Highway 1 North Of San Francisco

I never drove the stretch of Highway 1 north of San Francisco to Fort Bragg myself, so I decided to get away from the heatwave and enjoy the coast for a few days.

It was a bit foggy once I got to the coast, but since I dislike being too hot, the change to cooler weather was much appreciated. I stopped at a small turnout after driving through Bodega Bay to eat lunch and enjoy the ocean view.

It’s a nice feeling to take photos of my beautiful van in picturesque settings. I especially love all the Cypress trees along the coast. These trees have always struck me as beautiful since they grow in harsh conditions on cliffs and fog, plus I love how they form their canopy structure with the wind.

Did you know that there are 11 species of cypress that occur in California? Sadly 7 of these have been assigned a California Rare Plant Rank of 1B (rare, threatened, or endangered). These include Santa Cruz, Tecate, Gowen, Monterey, Piute, Pygmy, and Cuyamaca cypress varietals. One of the main reasons for this is climate change and human-induced changes to the natural fire regime. If the interval between fires is too short, trees are unable to reach reproductive age before the next fire, often causing cypress to be replaced by adjacent vegetation types. Thanks to California Native Plant Society for this info.

For more photos, check out my Instagram post!