Bringing sunshine back to California simply by leaving.............

We took advantage of a mostly rain free day to take the ferry from Sausalito to San Francisco.    

We flew out of Oakland around mid-day on Monday, January 16.  We left the Silver Bullet at the airport but only for a few hours.  The Bullet is now in the capable hands of Cindy and Drew (Beth's sister and brother in law).  Drew recently retired and they are enjoying some time on the west coast.  They are staying where we stayed in Sonoma and next week will be heading south to Pacific Grove, which is on the Monterey Peninsula.  We'll be heading back that direction on the day they head back to Florida.  If you're confused, don't worry, I get confused about it sometimes myself.  Thankfully so far, we've always been able to figure out where the Bullet is located.

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, California ended 2022 and kicked off 2023 with a whole lot of rain.  It started raining on December 27 and rained steadily until.........you guessed it, the morning of January 16.  There were occasional periods where it wasn't raining, but we estimated it was raining about 70% of the time, and when it wasn't raining it was mostly cloudy and looking like the rain could restart at any moment.

It was wet and chilly outside, but the chess match indoors was hot and intense! 

We enjoyed visiting Point Reyes National Seashore.  The overnight rains the night before had produced several mudslides and downed quite a few trees.  The road to the lighthouse was closed but we were able to get to the Chimney Rock trailhead.  This is short trail to an overlook where Elephant Seals gather at this time of year.

Drakes Bay from the Chimney Rock Trail

One of several gathering places for Elephant Seals

Bull Elk enjoying a little break in the rain.

California had been experiencing a drought for a number of years, with much of the state being classified as being in "extreme" or "exceptional".  The good news is that there has been significant improvement in the drought conditions.  Reservoirs have been refilled and once brown fields are green again.  The bad news is that so much rain over a relatively short period produced lots of flooding, mudslides and rockslides.  California is an exceptionally beautiful and diverse state.  It's also a state that tends to experience all kinds of challenges such as droughts, floods, mudslides, rockslides, massive fires and earthquakes.  I'm not sure we can take credit for ending the drought by being there or making the rain stop by leaving, but since our departure it's been nothing but sunny blue skies!

The drought map on the left is from early December, 2022.  The map on the right is from January 17.  

This is the spillway at the Nicasio Reservoir.  According to some locals we talked to, it had been years since water had flowed over the spillway.  Folks were stopping to take a look and capture the moment in pictures, so of course we stopped!

The day before we left we enjoyed one final visit with the kids at Petaluma's Leghorn Park.......

..........you think we had enough "family time" over the past month?

We'll be back in Florida for about a month.  Enjoying walks on the beach, visiting Beth's mom (NaNa) and a whole lot more.  Keep an eye on the California weather on February 13.   If the rains return, maybe it is us!

NaNa loves all of her outings, especially if it involves Ice Cream!

Sunrise over the City Pier on the east side of Anna Maria Island.....

...........the sun setting in the Gulf of Mexico from the west side of Anna Maria Island