parktrotter

Above is among the first sights that greet you as you enter Inverness, California, usually our first stop on any Pt. Reyes trip. As travelers enter the Pt. Reyes Peninsula, they normally end up on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard (an odd name: “boulevard” makes me think of Paris, and this is more a rural highway). Most of the destinations in the national seashore lead them north on Sir Francis Drake, up the rift valley created by the San Andreas Fault. When they reach the water of Tomales Bay, they have also reached Inverness.

When we go, we eat lunch at Priscilla’s at the southern edge of town–a small restaurant in an appealingly ancient building–and buy groceries in the store across the street. The wrecked fishing boat, photographed above, is right behind the grocery store. I don’t know how the boat came thus to grief (locals have a name for it, The Wreck or The Boat or That Thing, I don’t know), but it has been left in place in part just to give tourists something picturesque to photograph. Dustin and I climbed aboard once at low tide. I remember being struck by the fact that it had a kitchen, with, among all the other amenities, a paper towel rack. That paper towel rack disturbed me, and I only just figured out why: the life of the sea should be exciting and romantic.  The life of the sea should not include paper towels.

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