PCH

 1/3- Napa CA

  It rained hard last night and it wasn’t ready to quit with what was reported as sunrise. We drove down the Pacific Coast Highway today or CA 1.  The road for the most part hugs the coast and we saw plenty of signs for access to the coast. Every time we stopped at one it would rain harder. Eventually the sun made an effort but even with the sun shining when we stopped it would rain. 

   The coast here is a very forbidding coast as the mountains come right down to the sea. In fact the ocean is taking the mountains apart piece by piece and so there are soaring cliffs and deep gorges and rocks just under the water. The beaches at least in this section are few and not large. The exception is when there is a fairly large river emptying into the sea. The delta leaves large sand deposits. The beaches are usually black or dark brown. Some have rocks strewn about but almost none have shells of any kind. 

   The road is a continuation of the twisting twirling Tasmanian dervish that we have experienced lately. I did so many hairpin curves today I should have been a hairdresser. The scary part is when the road goes along the contours of the mountains about 200 feet up from the water. This is a narrow two lane road with no shoulder and no guardrail. Other than that it is a spectacular drive with vista after unbelievable vista. The engineers on this project definitely forgot their straight edges as they left no curve unbent. 

    After about 70 miles of this we turned inland and could actually go the speed limit. We headed to Napa where we dropped  anchor at the Skyline Park. Mostly true to its name it is up on the side of a hill and looks out over the Napa valley. It was an impressive view when I walked around after dark and you could see the city lights. We hope to get a better view tomorrow when we hike up to the top of this hill.