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in Travel

Road Trip! Fort Ross CA

Road Trip! Fort Ross, CA

Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

The hubs and I took a much-needed vacation and drove up to Fort Ross CA for a mid-week getaway.

About 45 minutes above Bodega Bay, Fort Ross is an unincorporated town named after the Russian fort established there in the early 1800’s. It is considered part of Jenner, CA but is 12 miles above the actual town of Jenner.

If you truly want to get away from it all, this is the place to go. The town is small (population: 100 something) and well off the beaten path. It  only offers one gas station/deli, a few motels and a couple of restaurants, but what it lacks in variety it more than makes up for in quality.

We stayed at the Fort Ross Lodge, which I said before, is in Jenner, but not the actual town of Jenner, but about 12 miles of windy roads above Jenner, which I didn’t realize because I didn’t bother to read the confirmation email that the nice people at the lodge sent me, so I figured it was in the town of Jenner. Needless, to say, we were pretty confused when we went through Jenner and didn’t see the lodge. So after another 12 long miles of where-the-bleep-are-we’s, we were very relieved to see the lodge sign.

Fort Ross Lodge offers beautiful grounds and very comfortable rooms, most with a wood fireplace and some with outdoor private spas. (If you’ve never sat in a spa overlooking an ocean sunset, you don’t know what you’re missing!) The staff there is friendly and helpful, and on our arrival pointed out various places to dine and visit while we were there. They even have WiFi service, which is something you wouldn’t expect in such a remote area. However, cell phone service there is spotty at best, and from what I was told the only service that even works in that area is Verizon (which fortunately we have). But we couldn’t get cell reception in our room; we had to walk out to the cliffs overlooking the ocean to get a signal. There are no in-room telephones, but there is a pay phone next to the office.

Our first day we decided to drive north up the coastline and sightsee for a bit. We ended up stopping at Salt Point State Park, where we walked the hiking trails along the beach and snapped the photos below. Any of the state parks in the Sonoma county area require an $8 parking fee to park in the designated areas, but once you purchase a parking permit, you’re good for all the state parks for the day.

Salt Point Stat Park, Fort Ross, CA

Tide’s coming in!

Rock formation at Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

All kinds of weird rock formations.

Rock formation at Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

See what I mean?

Rock formation at Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

I wonder if this is what Mars looks like.

Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Do you think anyone would mind if I built a house here?

Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

The breaking fog, the waves, the lack of pollen.

Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Incoming!

Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Seals sunning themselves on a rock and surely laughing at all the idiots taking pictures of them. Oh wait.

Succulents at Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Succulents were growing out of cracks in the rocks everywhere. Resilient little suckers!

Flowers at Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Don’t know what kinda flowers these are, but they’re purty.

Star Thistle at Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Star Thistle.

Dandelions galore at Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Dandelions galore!

Dandilions, Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Close-up of a dandelion, because I’m sure you’ve never seen one before.

Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross, CA

Meandering path to the shore. Sigh.

 After a few hours of roaming around the park, it was mid-afternoon and we were pretty tired and hungry. We decided to continue up north to the town of Gualala to eat at the Bones Roadhouse. If you like good barbecue, then you’ll love this place. Not only is the food (and beer!) great, the place seems to attract an interesting mix of travelers sharing their travel-war stories, which added to the fun atmosphere.

With full bellies, we headed back down south to the lodge. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to stop and visit Stewart’s Point Store and Retreat on our way back, which offers glamping-style canvas cabins (I’ve never tried glamping, but it looks like so much dang fun) along with many other al a carte services geared toward helping their visitors to relax and unwind.

 After we rested up a bit, we decided to go out for a little late din-din. The closest place was the Timber Cove Inn about a mile north of us, so we decided to give it a try. If you are the type of person who easily gets lost trying to find a place, you don’t have to worry about missing this one- there is like a 1,000 foot totem pole in the back of the inn which I’m sure can be seen from space.

The restaurant is fine dining, but it has a warm atmosphere and the staff are very friendly. The menu offers a good selection of food, including some vegetarian dishes. The food was excellent, the dining experience enjoyable, and most importantly, there was no stuck-up people there to piss us off.

The next day we decided to visit the Fort Ross State Park. Now, I absolutely love old historical places. Not only because I love history type stuff, but because old historical places tend to be dilapidated because they’re old (obviously), and because they are dilapidated they also tend to be somewhat creepy. And I ADORE creepy stuff. The park isn’t super-high on the creepy scale, but it does offer a sense of eeriness especially the fort’s graveyard that is separated from the fort by a ravine. It does offer a small piece of interesting history that most people would never know about unless they toured the park. If you ever decide to visit here, give yourself a good part of the day to do it- there’s a lot to see here, and it also offers some nice beach access with some of the best shell and rock hunting opportunities I’ve found in California, though actually keeping the rocks and shells is illegal, so of course I would NEVER do that.

Fort Ross State Park, CA

The Fort Ross compound.

Fort Ross State Park, CA

I would love to have a windmill like this on our farm.

Fort Ross State Park, CA

Walking up to the fort. Awesome.

Fort Ross State Park, CA

Don’t these people know I’m trying to take a picture here?!?

Fort Ross State Park, CA

Pink Ladies, also known as (ahem) Naked Ladies, where in bloom everywhere!

Fort Ross State Park, CA

The barracks.

Fort Ross State Park, CA

The chow hall.

Fort Ross State Park

Inside the chow hall. I took a bunch of “inside” shots throughout the buildings, but I decided not to include them all here and bore you to death. You’re welcome.

The water well. There was a bunch of trash at the bottom of it, so some people must have somehow mistaken it for a garbage can.

The water well. There was garbage at the bottom of it, so apparently some people think it’s a garbage can.

Fort Ross State Park

The church. The starkness inside was a bit creepy in a kid-friendly kind of way.

Fort Ross State Park

West of the fort, looking north to the Call House.

Fort Ross State Park

Hubby standing practically inside the allegedly largest eucalyptus tree in the US. It’s on the right in the previous photo.

Fort Ross State Park

The Call House. The Call family bought Fort Ross and the surrounding land in the late 1800’s. Wish I was related to them.

Fort Ross State Park

Stand of eucalyptus trees.

Fort Ross State Park, CA

View from the Call House. Did I mention I wish I was related?

Fort Ross State Park, CA

Up the hill from the Call House. I’m just going to change my last name to Call.

Fort Ross State Park

View of the fort from the cemetery.

Fort Ross State Park, CA

Grave markers at the cemetery. Shiver!

After a good day of touring the fort and exploring the beaches, we decided to catch an early dinner and get in early for the evening. We went to the Ocean Cove Lodge Bar & Grill which offers casual dining with a great view. It was warm enough to eat outside on the front patio amongst the flower garden and hummingbirds buzzing around the feeders. The clam chowder was to die for and if you order any of the several fish-and-chips selections on the menu, you won’t be disappointed. It made for a nice ending of the last night of our vacation.

 I hope you enjoyed this and I didn’t bore you to death, so if you’re still alive, feel free to leave me a comment.

Michelle

4 Comments

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Comments

  1. Karen Goodman says

    September 19, 2014 at 3:49 pm

    What a fun day! I love the close up pictures you got of the rocks and the chow hall. Road trips are so fun. I need to do more of them.

    Reply
    • Michelle @ The Painted Hinge says

      September 20, 2014 at 9:35 am

      Thanks Karen! 🙂 And by all means do more road trips- they are good for the soul!

      Reply
  2. Kati Aho says

    May 20, 2016 at 10:36 pm

    Hi Michele – just ran across you page looking for photo of my great grandparents house – the Call house. My mother (Laurie Carr Horn, 97, lives with me and is still sharp), me and some family members are going up to the house on Sunday. My Mom’s Mom – Laura Call Carr was one of the children of GW and Mercedes Call. I spend a lot of time at the house in the 60’s when I was a kid. My great Uncle Carlos – my grandmothers brother lived in the house at that time. It was pretty fun to visit… Maybe I’ll see you up there some time.

    Reply
    • Michelle says

      May 21, 2016 at 2:01 pm

      Hi Kati,

      I can only imagine what it would be like to spend time there as a kid. It is an wonderful house (I love older homes) and it couldn’t be in a better location. What an amazing family history! Thanks so much for sharing it! And yes, you just may run into me up there sometime! 🙂

      Reply

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Happy Halloween!!! 🎃 I bought these guys with t Happy Halloween!!! 🎃 I bought these guys with the intention of using them in a Halloween themed entryway but never got around to it, so I added them to my fall front porch display for the Halloween weekend. 

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I'm putting some finishing touches on the Christma I'm putting some finishing touches on the Christmas decor for our Christmas Eve celebration. It's a small celebration because of Covid (my mom, my hubs and me) but I still want it to be festive.⁣
⁣
From our home to yours, have the very best Christmas! 🎄❤💚⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
⁣
#christmasdecorations  #christmasdecor #farmhouse #farmhousestyle #farmhousedecor #farmhousechic #farmhousehomes #cozychristmas #vintagechristmas #homedecor #cozyfarmhouse
Hey guys! Sorry I've been seriously MIA around her Hey guys! Sorry I've been seriously MIA around here lately, so if I missed your comments, messages or tags please don't take it personally ❤ I know I need to up my Instagram game big time!⁣
⁣
Anyway, here's my Christmas dining room for 2020! I wanted to do a red and gold Christmas theme in here for so long and I finally did it! If you'd like to see more pictures, please visit my blog - link in my profile. ⁣
⁣
Have an awesome Monday, Merry Yule if you celebrate, and have a wonderful holiday week! ⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
⁣
#farmhouse #farmhousestyle #farmhousedecor #vintagedecor #vintagefarmhouse #farmhousechic #diningroom #diningroomdecor #christmasdecor #farmhousechristmas #christmasfarmhouse #christmasdiningroom
I don't know if I could have cut this any closer t I don't know if I could have cut this any closer to the unofficial cutoff to post Turkey Day projects (well, I guess I could have posted this ON Thanksgiving) but here's my DIY ornamental corn wreath tutorial - link in my profile!

I hope you and yours have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!!! 🦃🍁🍂🌾🧡
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.
#farmhouse #farmhousedecor #fall #thanksgiving #ornamentalcorn  #wreaths #farmhousethanksgiving #fallfrontporch #fallporch #farmhouseporch #milkcan #milkcans
Happy Saturday friends! Today I joined a group of Happy Saturday friends! Today I joined a group of talented ladies to bring you the bimonthly Lifestyle Of Love blog hop!⁣
⁣
This month's theme is decorating with frames, so I jumped into the blog wayback machine to see what I could dig up that would fit the theme. I found this fall wreath from 2014 when I was in a shabby chic phase. Do you think it passed the test of time? ⁣
⁣
There's much more where this came from - you can get the directions on how to make one of these frame wreaths for yourself as well as check out all the fabulous frame ideas from all the LOL ladies on my blog - link in my profile.⁣
⁣
I hope you have the best weekend! <3⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
#lifestyleoflove #falldecor #fallwreath #fallwreaths #farmhousestyle ⁣
#rusticchic #shabbychic #shabbychicdecor #farmhouse #farmhousestyle #farmhousedecor #farmhousechic #farmhousefall
Happy Friday friends!!! ⁣ ⁣ Are you a 7UP fan? Happy Friday friends!!! ⁣
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Are you a 7UP fan? Then you might like my vintage 7UP crate Christmas centerpiece I put together! It's part of this month's Thrifty Style Team, where every month I join a team of talented ladies to bring you DIY projects and decor inspiration that won't break the bank! You can find the link to this month's TST on my blog - link in my profile. ⁣
⁣
Have an outstanding weekend! ⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
#christmasdecorations #christmasdecor⁣
#christmas #xmas #thriftystyleteam #7up #farmhouse #farmhousestyle #farmhousedecor #farmhousechic #myvintagehome #vintagefarmhouse #vintagedecor #farmhousechristmas #vintagechristmas
Happy Halloween!!! 🎃 I bought these guys with t Happy Halloween!!! 🎃 I bought these guys with the intention of using them in a Halloween themed entryway but never got around to it, so I added them to my fall front porch display for the Halloween weekend. 

Have a safe and fun Halloween and don’t forget to turn your clocks back tonight! ⏰🕰
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#halloween #falldecoration 2020 #halloweendecor #farmhouse #farmhousestyle #farmhouseonetofollow #farmhousedecor #fallfrontporch #fallforhomedecor #fallhome #falldecor
Grab a stubby milk can, fill it full of corn stalk Grab a stubby milk can, fill it full of corn stalks and you got yourself a nice front porch display for fall. Got critters that would eat the corn? Do it sans corn (just the cornstalks). Want to see more pics of my fall front porch? Click the link in my profile! Happy Sunday! ⁣
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