A couple of months ago, Kelvin found out about Fort Bragg's "Whale Festival" this weekend. We'd been to the Fort Bragg/Mendocino area in 2009 but hadn't been there in over ten years (2012). Fort Bragg is a lovely area south of us in Mendocino County right on the coastal Hwy 1 and only about 3 hours away from our home (although we weren't sure how long it'd take us due to a partial road closure on the 101. It was just over three). We invited our friends Beth/Pat and their girls and made a weekend out of it. I've wanted to try to spot migrating whales ever since we moved to the NorCal coast but have never tried very hard.
Saturday morning, we walked around the Noyo Headlands area, with great ocean views, and visited Glass Beach (the former city dump).
We then went on a guided whale walk with a docent of the Noyo Center who taught us about the migration pattern of the (mostly) gray whales that you can often spot hugging the coastline during this time of year as they make their way up from Baja (some with calves) to their feeding grounds in Alaska during the latter (warmer) half of the year.
We were able to see harbor seals and birds but, alas, no telltale whale spouts, despite our binoculars (although some other members on the tour said they saw some!).
The tour ended in the Crow's Nest Interpretive center, which had a mini tide pool and a partial skeleton from a previously injured blue whale.
Pepper, who is battling a bad corneal eye infection, stayed in the car while we walked, was naughty in our absence, snacking on a "lunchable!"
After lunch, we headed to Jug Handle State Reserve, where you can hike a trail that goes through various ecological climates up to a pygmy forest.
banana slug
Niall hiked more than I'd ever seen him, but the kids were getting a bit tired and the trail was pretty muddy, so we didn't complete the whole hike.
We then visited MacKerricher State Park (where we'd camped back in the summer of 2012), which is home to a harbor seal "rookery," where mamas are getting read to birth their babies.
The kids enjoyed exploring the tide pools.
The weather was cooperative for a round of local mini golf at Emerald Dolphin. Pat took the lowest score!
Sophia and Olivia had been through Ft. Bragg on swim meets in the past and recommended Cowlick's Ice Cream downtown. Of course, our kids were thrilled to check it out after dinner.
We stayed in Shoreline cottages which had kitchenettes and the kids took advantage of the adjacent rooms for hanging out and Uno-playing.
They also adored the on-site hot tub!
Sunday was a pretty rainy day so we had an easy morning with breakfast at Denny's, followed by advanced-book tickets on the historic Skunk Train, a NorCal locomotive system which was named after the smelly rodent due to its historically stinky combination of fumes from its gas engine and crude oil for heat for the passengers. The railway goes all the way east to Willits through the redwoods.
We arrived a few minutes early and the kids checked out the Model Trains on site.
We spent a (mostly) relaxing hour riding the train.
We enjoyed some fresh air in the outdoor car.
We disembarked for 20 minutes or so at a junction which had some large-sized board games for the kids and a short nature trail.
We headed home from the coast in the afternoon, and passed some wild turkeys on our way. I asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was and Niall said, "The ring pop" (a post-hike bribe). He also said "That was fun. I liked Fort Bragg. I thought it was going to be like a fort with a lot of people bragging in it. I want to stay there!"
We saw zero lives whales, but did catch views of other wildlife, and it was still a fun Whale Fest weekend 2023!
