We all arose at my brother-in-law Henry's house then we followed him to Bob's Restaurant where we had a really good breakfast. We said our goodbyes to Henry then got on US 101 which we took south back to CA Highway 1 and drove north to Fort Bragg. Now the views along CA Highway 1.
These were the pictures I took along Highway 1. We stopped at the Point Arena Lighthouse.
The Point Arena Lighthouse. The first lighthouse was constructed in 1870. Its brick and mortar tower featured ornate iron balcony supports and a large Keeper residence with enough space to house four Light Keeper families. In April 1906, a devastating earthquake struck the tower. Damage from the trembler occurred all along the San Andreas Fault, which runs very close to Point Arena. In the town itself, many buildings were reduced to rubble and at the Light Station the Keeper's residence and Lighthouse were damaged so severely that they were rendered condemned, and ultimately torn down.
The United States Lighthouse Service contracted with a San Francisco-based company to build a new Lighthouse that could withstand any future earthquakes. The company built factory smokestacks, which accounts for the final design for the current Point Arena Lighthouse. The new design featured steel reinforcement rods encased in concrete, and was the first lighthouse to be built in this manner.
The new Lighthouse began operation on September 15, 1908, nearly 29 months after the quake. It stands 115 feet tall, and featured a 1st Order Fresnel Lens, seven feet in diameter and weighing 4,700 pounds. The lens is made up of 258 hand-ground glass prisms all focused toward three sets of double bulls eyes. It is these bulls eyes that gave the Point Arena Lighthouse its unique "light signature" of two flashes every six seconds. This incredible optic, that holds an appraised value of over $3.5 million, is set in solid bronze framework and was built in France.
Now some ocean views from this park.
The views from the Point Arena Lighthouse Park. From here we drove the rest of the way to Fort Bragg and had a very good but long drive today. We checked into the Surf Motel and Gardens for this night then drove over to Fort Bragg Harbor and went to dinner at Silver's Restaurant before returning to the motel for the night.
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