The Sea Ranch May, 2004
We're spending another month at Sea Ranch -- one of our favorite places. Unlike our earlier visit (see below) for all sorts of reasons visitors were scarce this trip. Instead, we got to live the life of the locals, joining in on some of the local activities. There was an Mbera concert (an instrument used in parts of Africa), a performance by the rather famous Musica Pacifica, a Baroque ensemble, a talk with great photos of an African photo safari by Steven Gadol, the Lions Club's semi-annual breakfast and gigantic garage sale, and a hike with the local hiking club. Sea ranch is definitely not a jumping place, but there are things to do that provide a change of pace from golfing, practicing golf and photography the great scenery and wildlife. Although April- May is a sunny time of the year, the strong winds can make being outdoors quite tiring.
Still, we've decided to put Sea Ranch on the short list of possible places to buy a home to live in for northern hemisphere summers, should we tire of the traveling life...
==================================================================================
November 1, 2002
Autumn on the northern California
coast; it seemed like a good idea, and it was! Eight months ago we decided to spend five laid-back
weeks 
in a rented
home at Sea
Ranch. The Sea Ranch is a secluded 5000-acre community just 3 hours north of San Francisco,
a few miles south of the small town of Gualala.
But its proximity to the big city belies its surprising isolation -- it's an 80-minute drive to
get an auto emission inspection.
As it turns out, the drive to Sea Ranch is part of the fun, as long as you don't get carsick easily. The curvy, hilly, windy, cliff-hugging trek up US Highway 1 from Bodega Bay is one of the world's most scenic, especially when the sun's out; on the other hand, it can be treacherous when the fog rolls in.
Our month+ was spent playing golf
(of course) and entertaining (and being entertained) by some Bay Area friends. It was a
chance for us
to host, for a change, and to
reconnect. Thanks to Stuart, Margaret, Martin and Lesley; Bob and Jan; Jim
and Dorene; Ken and Helen; Nancy L; Bob, Anita, Jefferson and James; and Kate,
Jen, Griffin and Q for joining us!
Over the years, we've spent many vacations at or near Sea Ranch, so we knew what to expect; the only uncertainty was the particulars of the rental. The minor deficiencies of Eagle House (such as difficult-to-open pocket doors and kitchen cabinets, too few pots, and a pool table sporting only one functional cue stick) were more than offset by its brightness, high ceilings, huge bathrooms and proximity to the golf course.
The Sea Ranch was designed as a
"second home community that harmonized with, and was not injurious to, the
environment." The goal was to create a place where people would come to
escape city life -- walk the more than 10 mile long bluff trail in solitude,
beachcomb along the sandy shore, hike through tranquil redwood 
forests, or simply sit
on a headland overlook, watching pelicans or (in season) migrating whales. To accomplish this, the developers
turned acres of over-pastured and logged land
back into a more natural landscape. The master plan required clusters of unpainted wooden houses, surrounded by large open
meadow areas. No fences or lawns are allowed. Logged and overgrazed areas were
planted with trees, native grasses and wildflowers, providing a wildlife refuge.
Sea Ranch now abounds
with kestrel, quail, red-headed turkey vultures and other birds. Deer and
jack rabbits are abundant. For example, this fella (left) was just lounging
in the
shade.
Sea Ranch has received environmental and architectural
kudos. In 1991 it
received
the Gold Medal Award of the AIA, architecture's
highest honor. This was in recognition of "decades of an
unfailing pursuit of design excellence, education, and professionalism."
Sea Ranch was noted as "profoundly conscious of the natural drama of
its coastal site" and had "formed an alliance of architecture and
nature that has inspired and captivated a generation..."
Today Sea Ranch includes 2310 individual home sites on 3500 acres. Half the land is open space; the remaining 1500 acres are forest preserve. So far, 1600 homes have been built. As most are only occasionally occupied, MANY are available for rent. Weekend or one week rentals are typical, but we were able to negotiate a good deal for a month.
One of the best parts of staying
at Sea Ranch is the long, walkable (although somewhat hilly) golf
course 
designed
by Robert Muir Graves; he's one of the US's
foremost golf course architects. This Scottish links-style course is sculpted into the
coastal landscape, with lots of interesting holes, some requiring carries over ravines,
others with an ocean view. Before its expansion, the Sea Ranch Golf Course
was rated by
Golf Digest as "one of the five best 9-hole golf courses in the
world." After the addition of a second nine in 1996, it became a
challenging championship course with a high slope and rating. There are lateral hazards
everywhere and plenty of places to lose (and find) golf balls. Though course conditions
tend to be merely "good", rather than excellent, this course is definitely on my Top
10 list. Not only because of its layout, views and reasonable price
(buying a 10-play weekday ticket ends up costing $30 a round), but
because it's almost always underutilized, being so far from anywhere. Tee
times, which are set 10 minutes apart, are usually not required. Locals often
only play nine, speeding up play on the back. As a twosome, Dick and I walked many an 18 in well under four
hours. I do love fast play.
It's important to consider the
weather should you plan a Sea Ranch holiday. Winter is the wet season, 
though Sea Ranch and the coast are usually sunny and mild when it's not raining;
we've spent over a dozen wonderful Christmas' here. Summers, though
dry, tend to be foggy, overcast, cool or windy. As central California heats
up, cold, moist, maritime air is pulled inland, socking in most of the
northern coast. I think the best seasons are spring and fall.
Late September to late October is an
especially good bet, though even then about a fourth of our days were foggy or overcast,
with highs in the upper
50's or lower 60's. Actually, as we've discovered, those sorts of days are
perfect for golf.
A few more weeks and it'll be late autumn in California. As the clock falls back, it's time for us to go back too -- another spring and summer in New Zealand coming up!