bobnjulie
Lead Service Attendant
A gem of an idea: An overnighter on the Skunk Train. We received a sad call on Thursday. The Fort Bragg segment had to be cancelled due to a blown head. We consulted with my mother and step-father and since we had hotel and restaurant reservations we moved on to Plan B: A day trip on the Skunk Train from Willits, drive by car to Fort Bragg and a leisurely Sunday drive down Highway 1.
We arrived at the Skunk Train depot around 9:20 in the morning. We had to pay for our tickets and get ready for a 9:45 departure. Once we arrived we were told that we would not be taking the train as it was booked solid for the Beer and Mushroom festival but that we would be journeying on M100 - a motor car which was built for the east coast in 1925 and was moved to California in the 1930s. She had a Cummings Diesel engine (I asked since it sounded like my husband's families duelie diesel trucks
) Since we had our overnighter cancelled, we received the tip to go to the front seats and get the view an engineer gets. SOLD! I made sure our little group was waiting at the gate and that we were the first to board. We hustled to the front and the boys were generous to allow my mother and myself to take the front seat. It was a blast. I had initially been disappointed but that was short lived and completely done once we began our journey! The rail is only rated for 15 mph but we still had a couple of "thrills" when our motorcar hit some wet tracks going down the hill! The stop in Northspur was fine... we actually spent most of it watching our motorcar being turned for the return journey. We also got to watch the Skunk Train go past on its way to Camp Mendocino. On the return journey, we opted to sit in the back and let others have fun. I spent most of my time on the veranda. The light going through the redwoods in enchanting and the crew member Eric was incredibly informative. A wonderful journey!
Once we returned to the depot, we traveled over to Fort Bragg, drove up the coast to do some walking at MacKerricher State Park, dropped off our bags at our hotel and then went to celebrate my birthday (a delayed celebration) at Silver's on the Wharf. Since it appears Fort Bragg rolls it's sidewalks up at night, we ended up going to bed pretty early.
We ate breakfast at our hotel and then were off. I had looked at where we could stop at on Mapquest and selected a couple of stopping points - most of which we didn't stop at! Oh well...best laid plans, etc....
Our first unplanned stop was at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse! What a gem! We were actually driving to a spot I had picked out and I was looking for signs when I spotted a sign that I thought said lighthouse! Since I am a lighthouse junkie, I made us turn. Great stop. Luckily I travel with my placard which allowed us to park a lot closer to the lighthouse - good for me and great for my 86 year old and 92 year old step-father. We really enjoyed the stop.
Driving down Highway 1 is always a thrill and sometimes a chore. We were lucky with the weather but not with the fog along the coast. Still spectacular!
Our finally side trip was to visit Fort Ross - a Russian fort settlement. Really interesting history and one I had never heard of but my step-father had mentioned it the day before. Definitely worthwhile visit but by the time we were there, it was past 2 and I was starving so we cut our visit short and continued on our journey home.
Hope you enjoyed the journey.
Here is a link to all my photos!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/97163322@N02/sets/72157649211395192/
We arrived at the Skunk Train depot around 9:20 in the morning. We had to pay for our tickets and get ready for a 9:45 departure. Once we arrived we were told that we would not be taking the train as it was booked solid for the Beer and Mushroom festival but that we would be journeying on M100 - a motor car which was built for the east coast in 1925 and was moved to California in the 1930s. She had a Cummings Diesel engine (I asked since it sounded like my husband's families duelie diesel trucks
) Since we had our overnighter cancelled, we received the tip to go to the front seats and get the view an engineer gets. SOLD! I made sure our little group was waiting at the gate and that we were the first to board. We hustled to the front and the boys were generous to allow my mother and myself to take the front seat. It was a blast. I had initially been disappointed but that was short lived and completely done once we began our journey! The rail is only rated for 15 mph but we still had a couple of "thrills" when our motorcar hit some wet tracks going down the hill! The stop in Northspur was fine... we actually spent most of it watching our motorcar being turned for the return journey. We also got to watch the Skunk Train go past on its way to Camp Mendocino. On the return journey, we opted to sit in the back and let others have fun. I spent most of my time on the veranda. The light going through the redwoods in enchanting and the crew member Eric was incredibly informative. A wonderful journey!Once we returned to the depot, we traveled over to Fort Bragg, drove up the coast to do some walking at MacKerricher State Park, dropped off our bags at our hotel and then went to celebrate my birthday (a delayed celebration) at Silver's on the Wharf. Since it appears Fort Bragg rolls it's sidewalks up at night, we ended up going to bed pretty early.
We ate breakfast at our hotel and then were off. I had looked at where we could stop at on Mapquest and selected a couple of stopping points - most of which we didn't stop at! Oh well...best laid plans, etc....
Our first unplanned stop was at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse! What a gem! We were actually driving to a spot I had picked out and I was looking for signs when I spotted a sign that I thought said lighthouse! Since I am a lighthouse junkie, I made us turn. Great stop. Luckily I travel with my placard which allowed us to park a lot closer to the lighthouse - good for me and great for my 86 year old and 92 year old step-father. We really enjoyed the stop.
Driving down Highway 1 is always a thrill and sometimes a chore. We were lucky with the weather but not with the fog along the coast. Still spectacular!
Our finally side trip was to visit Fort Ross - a Russian fort settlement. Really interesting history and one I had never heard of but my step-father had mentioned it the day before. Definitely worthwhile visit but by the time we were there, it was past 2 and I was starving so we cut our visit short and continued on our journey home.
Hope you enjoyed the journey.
Here is a link to all my photos!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/97163322@N02/sets/72157649211395192/
