Point Reyes

Time: September 26th, 2015

Place: Point Reyes Lighthouse and nearby beaches

Company: Wife, daughter and parents

Highlights: Left house at about 11 am and reached the Bear Valley Visitor Center at about 1 pm. Nice, easy drive with a short bit of easy winding road. Then headed directly to lighthouse. Reached at 2 pm. A magnificent view of a straight-line coastline with crashing waves greeted us at the parking lot. After a short walk, reached the start of the stairs that went 308 steps down to the lighthouse. Quite a spectacular view. The lighthouse itself was quite interesting, with actual diary entries recorded, way back from late 1800s. Spent some nice time looking at the panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean and then headed back. 

After a quick lunch, headed to Chimney Rock spot where there was an Elephant Seal Overlook. It wasn't all that great. So didn't spend much time at that place. Headed next to the Point Reyes South Beach. The sand on this beach is very coarse and actually has tiny colored stones. Spent some nice time relaxing and then headed to Drakes Beach. We didn't expect this beach to have any waves considering this is in the bay area. However, we were surprised to see some waves crashing in single file with quite a thunder. It was pleasant with quite a view - a backdrop of cliffs. However, we didn't stay for long since it was chilly.

Our next stop was Point Reyes North Beach. This seemed to be the best of the three. The waves here was much better than South Beach. Here the crashing waves appear in great sets and is non-stop. The sand on the beach was much finer and smooth. We spent the maximum time here, mainly to wait until the sun set. It was a clear sky and we were rewarded with a nice enough sun set although - at the very end - there seemed to appear some clouds from nowhere. We were hoping for the sun to sink beneath the ocean but it disappeared just above the horizon. Still, it was a good enough sunset.

Left at 7:05 pm after sunset and reached home after an uneventful trip at about 9 pm. Driven 166 miles, spent 6 hours all in all at Point Reyes National Seashore (from the time we entered Bear Valley Visitor Center until we left the North Beach) and it was good enough time spent for a nice weekend outing.

Point Lobos

Time: September 6th, 2015

Place: Point Lobos State Reserve, Mount Madonna Hanuman Temple

Company: Wife, daughter and parents

Highlights: Did not plan anything significant for the Labor Day long weekend. Ended up with a single day trip to Monterey-area (Point Lobos state reserve). Initially thought of visiting the Point Sur lighthouse too but it has many restrictions such as 3.5 hr walking tour, no visitors in parking lot, only 10 am on Sundays, etc. So ditched the plan. 

However, because of this ditching, we planned to leave the house an hour later (9 instead of 8), ended up leaving at 10 instead and hence got stuck in the traffic almost all the way, and what should have been a 2- hr drive became a 3-hr drive. Also did a brief stop-over at Monastery beach which I had initially thought was great but it wasn't this day. Then we saw 'parking lot full' with no access to vehicles in Point Lobos. 

So we had to park the car somewhere afar and walk some distance (to Whalers cove) to have a picnic lunch. The views were good though. Then, realizing that we could not cover everything by walk, went back to car, and got it inside (by which time, the 'Parking lot full' board was removed). Drove quickly to some other viewpoints such as Sandhill Cove, Weston Beach, China Cove, etc. Although not beach-like, it was quite a sight, with waves crashing against rocks and the bluish-green hue was mesmerizing. Because we also wanted to visit Hanuman temple, which was due to close at 7 pm, we had to hurry up. A good lesson learnt was that we should have left almost 2 hours early.

Thankfully, there was not much traffic on the way to Hanuman temple. We entered 30 mins before close and were greeted with a very warm arathi and prasadam. Did not expect to see so many people there on the middle of a long weekend. Very fulfilling and refreshing. Headed back, and home by 11-ish.