For me, the perfect day trip is one that allows you to see a lot and do a lot. I have never been satisfied with a long summer drive just to park at the same old California beach and freeze because of the maritime fog, or drive a hundred miles just to see something that I could have seen twenty miles from home (Coastal redwoods, for example). I want to be overwhelmed with adventure, new knowledge, and be forced to drink gas station coffee in order to survive the drive home.

With the knowledge that President's Day was a holiday and my boyfriend was willing to dedicate his freedom to me, the perfect day trip was going to happen. Because The Boyfriend had never been up the California coast beyond John Muir Woods, and I had pressing career decisions to make in the town, we decided to go to Fort Bragg - and that is where our perfect day trip started.

Fort Bragg is located in Mendocino County, California, just over 3 hours north of San Francisco. Like most coastal towns along the Pacific Highway 1, it has a great history, diverse habitats, and plenty of seafood restaurants. With The Boyfriend journeying alongside me (and doing all of the driving), I found myself soaking up every opportunity this town and its surrounding parts had to offer. 

After visiting with a potential employer, The Boyfriend and I explored the catwalks of MacKerricher State Park, located about a mile north of town. Leading us to tide pools accessible by the public, interpretive panels along the catwalk described how the tidal flat we stood on was once the site of a coastal lumber mill (MacKerricher and Union Lumber Company History). Keeping our eyes out for migrating gray whales, we watched Harbor seals and shorebirds sway and play along the waves in front of snow-covered coastal mountains. Not a bad way to kill an hour.

Now covered with coastal prairie and a campground, MacKerricher State Park once hosted the site of a large local lumber mill on property owned by Duncan MacKerricher.

Harbor seals were the biggest water attraction, although gray whales may have been swimming not too far away.

Using catwalks to minimize damage to plant life, great views of the ocean and snow-covered coastal mountains were easy to see.

Up next was the quietly famous Glass Beach. I once visited this site as a young teenager, and found it absolutely amazing. Serving as the local dump site in the 20th century, Glass Beach is an unprotected area covered in sea glass, or glass worked on by crashing waves and moving sediments. A discovery of sea glass at any beach is usually a spectacular one, but at this beach - it is a common thing. It is for this reason that tourists, by the thousands each year, visit the beach with bags and buckets to remove the green, white, yellow, and red chunks of sea glass for their personal collection. I admit that I did the same in the past. However, the removal of this glass has dramatically changed the exciting quality of this location: so much of the glass has been removed that only sections of it visibly contain sea glass. Quite the Catch 22 - while people are removing what is essentially litter from a natural landscape, their behavior is the same that results in the destruction of habitat at other sites; the removal of a resource. In this case, is it a removal of history? Of an opportunity for future generations? Of beauty? Just something to think about.

Inaccessible due to dangerous cliffs and a high tide, the white and green seen here are actually broken pieces of sea glass.

The Boyfriend and I decided that it was finally time to meander south to Van Damme State Park. About 15 miles from Fort Bragg, this gem contains one of the most unique plant habitats on the planet: a pygmy forest. Known as the Jenny Pygmy Forest, the plants and trees found here are stunted due to poor soil chemistry, local geology, and poor drainage. As standing water creates a bog-like feel, plants like Bol (Bolander) and Bishop pine, manzanita, rhododendron, and huckleberry are miniaturized. Tall individuals like me and The Boyfriend feel like giants in such a forest.

The Jenny Pygmy Forest sits on one of the "stairs" of the local "ecological staircase". Wave terraces carved by ancient sea levels and uplifted by local tectonics has resulted in biologically diverse steps, with each stair being about 100,000 years older than the one below it. As the soil on the highest stairs are eroded away, nutrients are removed and a hard-pan clay layer prevents water from being absorbed. It is this section of the staircase where the pygmy forest exists - and will not be found elsewhere in the world. Pretty neat stuff, huh?

The hard-pan clay layer prevents the absorption of water for plants. Plants here have evolved to be shorter as a result.

A visual description of the wave terraces, or the "ecological staircase."

Difficult to observe by picture, the plants seen in the foreground are only 4-5 feet tall.

The Boyfriend and I took advantage of the park's trail system, where we observed the staircase effect and worked our way into redwood habitat. Finally finishing the trail about a half-hour before sunset, we drove to the westernmost portion of the park - the beach.

The Boyfriend parked the truck so we could sit on the tailgate and eat homemade pepperoni and summer sausage, drink wine, and enjoy the setting. Some people would argue that if you have seen one sunset, then you have seen them all - but I beg to differ. This was one of the best sunsets I have ever seen.

So all of the criteria was met: I saw a lot, and I did a lot. I learned new things. I was a tourist, a hiker, a girlfriend, and a geeky Naturalist all in the same day. I did, however, skip the coffee - the wine had me fast asleep for most of the drive home. That was the perfect day trip.

- Allison

The Perfect Day Trip

For me, the perfect day trip is one that allows you to see a lot and do a lot. I have never been satisfied with a long summer drive just to park at the same old California beach and freeze because of the maritime fog, or drive a hundred miles just to see something that I could have seen twenty miles from home (Coastal redwoods, for example). I want to be overwhelmed with adventure, new knowledge, and be forced to drink gas station coffee in order to survive the drive home. After all, I did invent the Standards for Electrifyingly Good Day Trips.


With the knowledge that President's Day was a holiday and my boyfriend was willing to dedicate his freedom to me, the perfect day trip was going to happen. Because The Boyfriend had never been up the California coast beyond John Muir Woods, and I had pressing career decisions to make in the town, we decided to go to Fort Bragg - and that is where our perfect day trip started.

Fort Bragg is located in Mendocino County, California, just over 3 hours north of San Francisco. Like most coastal towns along the Pacific Highway 1, it has a great history, diverse habitats, and plenty of seafood restaurants. With The Boyfriend journeying alongside me (and doing all of the driving), I found myself soaking up every opportunity this town and its surrounding parts had to offer. 

After visiting with a potential employer, The Boyfriend and I explored the catwalks of MacKerricher State Park, located about a mile north of town. Leading us to tide pools accessible by the public, interpretive panels along the catwalk described how the tidal flat we stood on was once the site of a coastal lumber mill (MacKerricher and Union Lumber Company History). Keeping our eyes out for migrating gray whales, we watched Harbor seals and shorebirds sway and play along the waves in front of snow-covered coastal mountains. Not a bad way to kill an hour.

Now covered with coastal prairie and a campground, MacKerricher State Park once hosted the site of a large local lumber mill on property owned by Duncan MacKerricher.

Harbor seals were the biggest water attraction, although gray whales may have been swimming not too far away.

Using catwalks to minimize damage to plant life, great views of the ocean and snow-covered coastal mountains were easy to see.

Up next was the quietly famous Glass Beach. I once visited this site as a young teenager, and found it absolutely amazing. Serving as the local dump site in the 20th century, Glass Beach is an unprotected area covered in sea glass, or glass worked on by crashing waves and moving sediments. A discovery of sea glass at any beach is usually a spectacular one, but at this beach - it is a common thing. It is for this reason that tourists, by the thousands each year, visit the beach with bags and buckets to remove the green, white, yellow, and red chunks of sea glass for their personal collection. I admit that I did the same in the past. However, the removal of this glass has dramatically changed the exciting quality of this location: so much of the glass has been removed that only sections of it visibly contain sea glass. Quite the Catch 22 - while people are removing what is essentially litter from a natural landscape, their behavior is the same that results in the destruction of habitat at other sites; the removal of a resource. In this case, is it a removal of history? Of an opportunity for future generations? Of beauty? Just something to think about.

Inaccessible due to dangerous cliffs and a high tide, the white and green seen here are actually broken pieces of sea glass.

The Boyfriend and I decided that it was finally time to meander south to Van Damme State Park. About 15 miles from Fort Bragg, this gem contains one of the most unique plant habitats on the planet: a pygmy forest. Known as the Jenny Pygmy Forest, the plants and trees found here are stunted due to poor soil chemistry, local geology, and poor drainage. As standing water creates a bog-like feel, plants like Bol (Bolander) and Bishop pine, manzanita, rhododendron, and huckleberry are miniaturized. Tall individuals like me and The Boyfriend feel like giants in such a forest.

The Jenny Pygmy Forest sits on one of the "stairs" of the local "ecological staircase". Wave terraces carved by ancient sea levels and uplifted by local tectonics has resulted in biologically diverse steps, with each stair being about 100,000 years older than the one below it. As the soil on the highest stairs are eroded away, nutrients are removed and a hard-pan clay layer prevents water from being absorbed. It is this section of the staircase where the pygmy forest exists - and will not be found elsewhere in the world. Pretty neat stuff, huh?

The hard-pan clay layer prevents the absorption of water for plants. Plants here have evolved to be shorter as a result.

A visual description of the wave terraces, or the "ecological staircase."

Difficult to observe by picture, the plants seen in the foreground are only 4-5 feet tall.

The Boyfriend and I took advantage of the park's trail system, where we observed the staircase effect and worked our way into redwood habitat. Finally finishing the trail about a half-hour before sunset, we drove to the westernmost portion of the park - the beach.

The Boyfriend parked the truck so we could sit on the tailgate and eat homemade pepperoni and summer sausage, drink wine, and enjoy the setting. Some people would argue that if you have seen one sunset, then you have seen them all - but I beg to differ. This was one of the best sunsets I have ever seen.

So all of the criteria was met: I saw a lot, and I did a lot. I learned new things. I was a tourist, a hiker, a girlfriend, and a geeky Naturalist all in the same day. I did, however, skip the coffee - the wine had me fast asleep for most of the drive home. That was the perfect day trip.

- Allison