Another day in Northern California, another cruise out to the coast to catch a sunset ... or so I thought.
When I got out to San Gregorio today, the coast was totally socked in by a fogbank. So I started driving south on Route 1 to see if I might be able to see the sun farther down the coast. That may sound foolishly optimistic, but I've seen it happen quite a few times before. And what the heck, I was on Route 1 in a fast car.
First stop, the foggy rocky shores of Pescadero:
Lovely glamour shots of a Dodge Challenger in a fogbank, but no sunset. Onwards!
Finally, just around the time I hit the Santa Cruz County line and Big Basin State Park, I got ahead of the fog bank.
But I could tell by the way the fog was still rolling in that I'd probably need to make it another 50 miles down the coast if I wanted a sunset. Sigh. I gave up the chase and decided to turn around and head back up the coast. At least the fog had discouraged the tourists, so I could blast back up Route 1 at an unsavory speed in my ridiculous muscle car with nary a bit of traffic ahead to slow me down....
Hey, where'd this guy in the anti-muscle car come from?
As you might imagine, the Challenger made quick work of this cute obstacle.
Then much to my surprise, as I neared Half Moon Bay a crack in the fog appeared!
I pulled over and took a look. Somewhere out there, across the farm fields, the beaches, and the waves, a sunset was trying to crack through the fog!
I hopped back in the car, drove up the coast a bit further, took the first left-hand turn I could find, and headed out to the coast. The sunset chase was back on!
As I drove on a little side road out to the beach, a bright orange Sun dropped beneath the clouds and took a brilliant plunge into the sea. Truly spectacular. Alas, I was driving and didn't capture a picture.
But I did stop the car, jump out, and take these two photos about ten seconds later. It looks like it was a very pretty sunset on Pillar Point, if you happened to be there:
And a few minutes later I got down to the beach and enjoyed a very pretty afterglow. The light coming in under the fog and reflecting off the water was really something special:
And so it was that my fast ride on the coast did indeed find a sunset, though hardly where I expected to see one and long after I'd given up hope!
Oh, wow, those are some wild photos! Cool. Thanks for the story and photos, and the laugh my dear.
ReplyDeleteThat turned out surprisingly well. I guess it's a reminder to never give up hope. By the way, that while challenger looks great in a fog bank... The fog suits his color and his sneer.
Really, the shots of sunset through a break in the fog are truly cool looking, like fire.
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