Took a late afternoon drive out to Point Reyes and wound our way through the pastoral hills to Pierce Point Ranch. All those rolling hills and cows so near to the ocean makes the whole place wonderfully surreal, like a mid-western island.

The ranch itself isn't functioning anymore but you can walk around what's left and read all the helpful placards.

Got there at that amazing Terence Malik time of day when everything seems to give off a warm golden glow. If you haven't already, go watch Badlands. So beautiful.

Makes everything look like a painting. Really liking those American landscape painters from the 1930's lately, sort of remind us of old paint-by-numbers. Ever heard of Arthur Hill Gilbert? We especially like his View to Cypress Point.

Hiked through the Tule Elk Peserve and got an earful of "bugling". The herd is gigantic and they're all getting their winter coats, which is neat to see.

The sunset over the ocean's also pretty lovely.

Frankie got some nice night shots on the way back in.

That orangey glow is actually the moon rising. It was so bright and enormous, every picture we took just made it look like the sun. Definitely made for a nice drive home, we even saw a fox.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still Interested? Check out Point Reyes Nat'l Seashore by driving up the 1 or taking the 101 to Sir Francis Drake and heading west. When you hit Olema, turn onto Bear Valley road and that'll take you to the visitors center where you can pee and grab a map of the park. Pierce Point Ranch is all the way north at the end of the road.