Fort Ross and Bodega Marine Lab July 6th, 2012

We had a wonderful time on our second full day here in the Bodega Bay area. We took a trip about 20 miles up the coast to Fort Ross. This is a fort that was built in the early 1800's by the Russian-American company which was in the business of trying to establish a foothold on the west coast of North America. The main purpose of the outpost, was to have a place to produce food and other goods to ship up to Sitka Alaska and other Russian outposts in the Alaskan wilderness. Of course, this was a time in history long before Russia sold Alaska and the Aleutian islands to the United State of America.

This fort, was established as one of the first California State parks in the state park system. At this fort, there was a kitchen and fabrication shop building, a chapel, a warehouse and several other buildings inside the perimeter of the fort. On two of the opposing corners of the Fort, are gun posts where canon's and muskets can be fired from upon opposing forces if need be. This fort was never attacked. In fact, the only time the canon's were ever fired was when dignitaries arrived for a visit.

After we finished exploring Fort Ross, we headed back to Bodega Bay. Along the way, we found ourselves descending down through the cloud deck which was kind of a cool feeling as we were driving back to camp.

 On our way south on highway 1, we stopped in the town of Jenner for a wonderful lunch at Café Aquatica. Carol had a great Portobello mushroom sandwich, and I had a fine albacore tuna sandwich.

Upon our return to the Bodega Bay area, we went to the Bodega Marine Laboratory for the weekly tours that are conducted at the facility. We had a tour from a very interesting docent that told us about how at one point in time, PG & E wanted build a nuclear power plant on Bodega Bay. Though they were aware of the fact that the San Andreas Fault ran right through the area where they wanted to build the plant, they ignored that fact until that information came out and became public knowledge. After that, they sold the property to the State of California and UC Berkley ended up with the property and opened this Marine lab here. Though this is primarily a research facility, it is a fascinating place to visit get a glimpse of what is going on.

Tomorrow, we hope to explore the area some more by doing some Geocaching.

Happy camping! Eric and Carol