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We spent three nights at the Albion River RV Campground, including two full days of photography and fun. The two days couldn’t have been more different. Monday rained all day. Tuesday was bright and sunny with gale force winds. Both were, of course, framed by the beautiful Mendocino coastline and forests. The days were vibrant and so different from the hot and often smoke-filled days we’ve experienced recently back home. We found a couple of our restaurants reopened after their pandemic closures...a bonus!

The rain on Tuesday was mostly a non-stop light rain interrupted by occasional brief moderate downpours. For example, at Point Arena Lighthouse, the light rain helped me decide not to use my Nikon to capture a not-so-interesting distant lighthouse pic. Using instead my iPhone 12 Pro Max, no sooner had I clicked a couple of shots when it suddenly poured. I quickly stowed the iPhone in my raincoat pocket and moved quickly back to the truck.

Mountain View Road runs about 28 miles through several different species of thick forests from Manchester Beach to Booneville in Anderson Valley. We’d not driven this route before, and hoped by moving inland a bit we’d experience less rain while capturing some redwood forest pics. The midday road had no traffic, climbed high through the coastal mountains, eventually descending to Booneville. There were some redwoods as well as other conifers and deciduous trees which were losing their multi-colored leaves. Turnouts for photography were not plentiful but enough to get into good positions for subject lighting, etc.

The surprising high point of this road was a species of tree that was in the process of growing and shedding bark on its branches, exposing the bright orange and red wood patterns beneath.

Wednesday was brisk and ripping with wind and sea spray as the storm moved northwest. The sun and rough seas allowed me to use the Nikon equipment at last. We drove south to Point Arena in the morning, then north to Ft. Bragg in the afternoon. We took a short hike to see the sea stacks, arches and a small island carved by the waves. The waves, by the way, were quite big with sets of a dozen or more. Particularly interesting were the waves slamming against the rocks and reefs. Sue pointed out a cobble beach grotto littered with piles of snake-like bull kelp dislodged and washed ashore by the tremendous surf. Lots of great visual patterns here.

Our afternoon drive to Mendocino and Ft. Bragg was slightly disappointing due to the absence of sea lions in Noyo Harbor. We picked up some dinner items at Mendocino before returning to Albion River. An abandoned shack perched above the river bank and overgrown with shrubbery made for a good photo subject.