Spring Break Trip-Day 3

Day 3 began a lot like Day 2, with us taking the morning easy. I took a few pictures of most of the wooden sculptures scattered around the grounds of the inn (one at right). Around noon we grabbed some lunch from the food we brought. We left for Bowling Ball Beach/Schooner Gulch a little after 2pm. The parking for these two beaches is only about 3 miles from the inn. We took the southern trail first to Schooner Gulch Beach (below). Schooner Gulch got its name from a story in which a schooner was sited, one evening, stranded on the beach in the mouth of the gulch, yet in the morning showed no evidence of being there. It's a nice beach with the creek splitting it in two. We were the only ones on the beach at the time, so we spent a little bit of time here. Afterwards, we headed north to Bowling Ball Beach. The trail down to the beach was interesting because of the steepness. There is a ladder made from wooden boards roped together at the bottom where there is also a log jam on Galloway Creek. Once we navigated through this obstacle we continued north towards the bowling balls.Only one small section of this beach possesses the bowling balls. Also, it's best to visit the beach at low tide or else the balls will be inundated. Luckily, when we arrived at the bowling balls we were the only ones on the beach. This lasted for about 15 minutes before a couple with three dogs strolled by without stopping at the balls. Therefore, we had the beach to ourselves the entire time we were there. These boulders are virtually uniform in size, shape, and spacing and are completely natural. The answer to how these were formed lies in geology. This is an explanation taken from environmentalgraffiti.com: "Technically called concretions, these hard spheres are composed of materials far more resilient than the Cenozoic mudstone that once surrounded them. Over millions of years, this has eroded away under the constant onslaught of the Pacific Ocean, forming the cliffs that line the shore behind the beach and leaving the tougher 'bowling balls' behind."The low tide was not too strong when we were there, so the balls (below) always had a little bit of water around them. I've seen some pictures of the balls at low tide with the shore tens of feet away from the boulders. We had a good time here and Britt found more aquatic life in the tide pools around the balls to photograph. I had fun standing on top of the balls and taking pics. Britt also found a lot of interesting shells with some large and really colorful abalone shells. She even found a complete half to one. The day was overcast with an occasional spray of rain, but not cold. We spent a little over an hour here before leaving.For dinner tonight we wanted to check out an Italian restaurant in Point Arena known simply as Phoenix Restaurant. This was a great decision. The food there was awesome. Britt ordered spaghetti and I got Italian sausage with penne. We both happily finished our plates quickly. I could have used a few more penne with my sauce, but I just dipped my bread in the extra sauce. If we're ever in Point Arena again this will definitely be a stop. On our way back to our room we grabbed some ice cream from Pizza 'N Cream and spent the rest of the night relaxing in our room and enjoying the sounds of the ocean.