Fort Bragg & The Skunk Train

Leaving San Fran we took a taxi to pick up our hire car in downtown San Fran, traffic was really busy, but the hire car company are obviously well used to visitors needing easy directions to get out of town and told us to take the first right and then keep turning left, or maybe it was the other way around?   Well, whatever it was we were soon leaving San Fran behind as we headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge and picked up the Pacific Coast Highway.

Our next stop was Fort Bragg, unfortunately, for us the Pacific Coast Highway was shrouded in mist and we hardly saw a thing, although I expect it’s a gorgeous drive in the sunshine.  There also seemed to be a total lack of coffee shops along the way, although probably we just drove straight past them in the mist!

As we arrived in Fort Bragg the sun came out and the mist cleared, we found the Beachcomber Motel and checked-in, our balcony had lovely views across to the beach and out across the Pacific Ocean. 

The next morning we’d booked a trip on the Skunk Train.   I’m not sure I ever found out why it’s called the Skunk Train and if I did, I’ve forgotten. We took Highway 20, a lovely mountain drive through lots of giant redwoods to the small town of Willetts, California.

On the train we were entertained by a Train Singer, (not something we’ve come across before) who strolled up and down the train singing train related songs.

Our trip took us from Willetts through the forest to Larkspur where there were some old growth giant redwood trees.   The trees were huge and we enjoyed the trip, but I have to say sequoias are still my favourite tree.

Back in Fort Bragg we enjoyed a walk along a beach front path to Sea Glass Beach; sadly we didn’t get to see any sea glass as the tide was in, very bad timing on our part!

Later on I decided to risk a paddle in the ocean, it was absolutely freezing!

Have fun, we are!