Fort Bragg, CA- Our 1st post-pandemic trip! Day One!!!

Yea- The pandemic is almost over!!  We 3 are fully vaccinated, as are most Californians, so time to travel. Cody gets to choose a trip for his birthday, and he found this weird place I had never heard of- Glass Beach in Fort Bragg CA.  Looked interesting (NOT!), so did a little more research as he was pretty insistent😎.  Looks like a real place, although it says the glass is pretty depleted, and there is tons to do in the area (including wineries!! (I'm sold!🍷), plus we have never traveled north of San Francisco's coast!  So off to planning we went!!

First stop- Chico CA to visit our awesome family: Judy, Holly, Mike, Josh and Max!!!  I have such pride in being related to them!!!!  Just seeing their smiling faces brings peace!  We LOVE you (and Happy Birthday to Judy!!!❤)

After an excellent night in Chico and visit with Judy in the AM- off to Ft. Bragg we went.  It's a 4 hour drive through several counties, mainly 2 lane roads, so take a breath and enjoy the scenery- you are at the mercy of the slowest vehicle who refuses to give way.  The drive goes through farm land, little towns (many who saw better days), dryer areas, hills with trees, windy roads, and the most beautiful forests ever!!!  The temps went from 91 in Chico to 53 in Ft. Bragg- so dress accordingly!!!

Fort Bragg- the Trestle!!!  

An old trestle train bridge from the early 20th century thankfully not destroyed!  It is now part of the headland walking trail!!!  The beach areas are wonderful, rocky, cold, filled with life!!!

Glass Beach!!!  

Reading about Glass Beach: (Is there still Sea Glass at Glass Beach?

Yes, there's still lots of glass at Glass Beach! The beach – actually three of them – was created over decades as the pounding surf and passage of time turned broken head- and tail-lights, apothecary and soda bottles, and discarded household trash into today's treasure.) 

Seemed like a cool thing to see- especially since Cody wanted to see it- LOL.  Takes a little climbing down to the beach- but not much!!!  And the crashing waves, sea birds, and rocky out-croppings are the perfect back drop to finding glass!!!  Surprisingly, there was far more glass than we expected!!!  Certainly more glass than moon stones in Cambria- which made it really enjoyable!!!  The beach area includes trails above the beaches with growth of plants to prevent erosion, so there is lots to see!

The glass is very plentiful!!!  Both within the rocky shore and in the sandy areas!!!

Fallen weathered trees make for beautiful sights!

And art work from these trees are wonderfully present

Looking for glass all along the beach was very fun!  There's so much of it,  we tried finding different colors of glass: clear, white, green, brown, even purple!!!

Food!!!

As we are in a beach and fishing community, fish, of course😋

The fish and chips were awesome, but the prawns!!  Incredible!!!

The clam chowder was excellent!  But not the milky type of chowder- it had rice in it!  Very good!!

So this is Day One of our trip- wonderful time with family in Chico!!!!  Spending the night and visiting with Judy the next morning- always awesome with her kind, positive soul!!!  We drove  to Fort Bragg, ate, went to the beach and loved it!  Oh- the town litteraly closes at 8:30!!!!  

Day two is coming!  Can't wait to see what she brings!

Castle Air Museum- Atwater California

Castle Air Museum-  (https://www.castleairmuseum.org/)      we have lived in the Central Valley for 14 years now.  Both Rich and I  drove the 99 weekly for work, and all 3 of us drove it often as we traveled to parts north.  We have seen the signs on Castle Air Museum with every drive, and it is often on our local news.  We always wanted to visit it, but never had time.   Welcome Quarantine- for 9 weeks!!!!  Yikes!  Even though we took our daily walks thru the park and along the river- awesome as they are!- our wanderlust just can't be contained!  Castle Air Museum is an outdoor museum of aircraft.  Once it opened- on the 75th anniversary of the end of the European WWII theater- we planned our trip.  Research showed among their aircraft is Air Force 1 used by Reagan and Clinton!!  With interior tours on weekend only, we chose a Sunday for our visit.  It was as amazing as I thought it would be!!!  The museum does have an admission fee of $20.00 for adults and $15.00 seniors.  This is a private museum, so it's upkeep is funded through admissions fees and donations.

The museum has 71 different planes spread across 20+ acres.  Although they are not well marked, you can buy a map for $1.00.

Air Force 1- (https://www.castleairmuseum.org/douglasvc9c) A Douglas VC9 aircraft in operation 1975 to 2005 was a very cool tour!  The person who flew the most in this plane: Nancy Reagan!  They believe she chose this plane over others because she was into numerology and liked the call number of this plane.  One thing we learned: any airplane is titled Air Force 1 if the president is flying in it- it is the designation for the President!  The plane is essentially the same as any other plane built except for the communications center, seating is much larger, and a nice galley!  Every first lady designs the china used during their husbands tenure in office.  And the flag on the tail is larger than on normal planes, and wraps around the tail flap so it always looks like a complete flag.  Our tour guide was Larry- and he was excellent!!  The tour was about an hour, and was an additional $10.00 on top of the admission fee.  I totally recommend you visit on a weekend so you can tour this very historic air plane!!!  Only downside- no photographs inside.

3 of us at the doorway!

the plane
s lower 1/2 is polished to mirror clarity- although this plane is in
an outdoor museum so not maintained as the current Air Force 1

the flag stripes wrap around the flap

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

The Blackbird was so cool!!!  A maximum speed of 2100+mph!!!  This is a plane with a massive engine!!!

The engine in perspective!

Convair RB-36H Peacemaker

This plane is MASSIVE!!  The bombs show why it is called the peacemaker- they are also massive- scary so!  I would truly hate being on the receiving side of these bombs!!

under carriage holding bin

massive wheels!

Rich at the bomb to show the size

Every one of the other planes deserve their own entry and description- that is how cool this museum is!  Sadly, there is not room for it.  But if you go to their website, you will get great pictures and descriptions of each plane.  Here are some photos to entice you😼.

They also have an excellent indoor museum of artifacts donated by air force and military!  Including nazi items.  Totally worth your time!!!

empty table waiting for the return of the missing in action military whose bodies were not found yet.

A visit to the Castle Air Museum is an incredibly educational experience for learning about and seeing the aircraft of war!