Attention: These posts following our coastal Christmas-thru-New-Year’s trip are named a bit specifically, that’s because when these were originally shared, they only had one photo each due to bandwidth limitations back in the day. Since that time, I’ve updated them to include images that relate to the details of each day.

That bad weather we were experiencing yesterday got serious. By this morning, the water had already receded and had drained from the building nearest Tomales Bay. We learned from the manager that if the water hadn’t crested during the night, they would have woken us to evacuate our room, which was across from the white car on the left. Some of their units on the right, not pictured, did flood with guests needing to beat a retreat. Well, lucky us. Nope, not so lucky us. They were expecting more rain that night, and they were welcoming us to leave, except…

There were landslides and flooded roads on the way out in both directions.

We’d seen this boat before when it was sitting right next to the shore.

The sky is clearing, and the water is going down, but work is being done on the road south as the authorities want to get that segment cleared first so people can get away from the area.

So, we headed north about as far as we could get, and with our good luck in full force, the sky opened up to a beautiful blue, and we hoped to come across an accessible beach we could spend some time at until the road was open.

The chickens seemed to be enjoying a worm bonanza, or would that be a buffet?

There’s a lot of moisture in the air, but at least we have some spectacular views out of here of the silvery ocean.

The McClures Beach Trailhead looked passable, so off we went. Other than some very minor slides of rocks and sand along the trail, it was easy to navigate our way to the ocean.

It is the last day of the year and winter to boot, so you just know that Caroline would have to kick off the shoes and take a stroll in the icy northern California coastal waters because what better way is there to celebrate the New Year?

And so we spent a good bit of our day walking the beach.

Taking photos of ourselves to remember that we were once young and enjoying some amazing days on grand adventures.

A lone elk in silhouette against molten silver is not something we’ve ever seen on the California coast, a truly once-in-a-lifetime moment of wow.

When we got back to Inverness, where our motel was, we were informed that some people had left, but the Highway Patrol had warned that there was still small debris on the road and that at a few crossings, we’d be driving through moving water. We were welcome to stay but opted to get outta town before things deteriorated.

We reached the town of Fairfax, California, and saw a sign for famous organic burgers at M & G Burgers & Beverages. That sounded great, and so we pulled in. The place is popular as there’s a good line going, so that should be a good indicator, right? But while we’re waiting to get our order in, Sean Penn steps in behind us. He’s a bit dirty with some serious muddy boots on; he must be dealing with the effects of the flood, too. After we got our order in, we headed to a table to wait, and I pointed out that this was Sean Penn behind us. Caroline looks over and says, “No way, but it does kind of look like him, doesn’t it?” So, I grab my camera, trying to be discreet so I can snap a photo to compare this guy’s image to Sean Penn’s after we get home, but as I do, he turns and gives me the finger. I swear I had been discreet, but the guy had an eye for camera movement; that had to be Sean Penn. As I picked up our order, I apologized for the attempt, explaining I thought he was some guy who looked like a famous guy and that I didn’t intend to cause him stress. No, I didn’t take a photo anyway, and while I was a bit miffed about the finger, I guess I can understand it too.

It’s never too late to have one last walk on the beach, and so here we are, somewhere between San Francisco and Moss Beach, capturing the last glimmers of daylight.

Another stop at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse because it’s just beautiful, and will have to stand in for fireworks celebrating New Year’s Eve. We stayed in Santa Cruz and dined in celebration of being warm, dry, alive, and ready for 2006 at the Las Palmas Taco Bar. We definitely know how to live large.