Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [326]
Recommended at breakfast are the chili-cheese omelet and the egg burro (scrambled eggs with hash browns and cheese rolled in a flour tortilla). At lunch and dinner you can select from Mexican platters, traditional American dishes, and combinations of both, such as a Mexican hamburger steak with red or green chile. For a sort of Mexican pizza, try the cheese crisp—a deep-fried flour tortilla with melted cheese and toppings such as green chile and taco meat.
Mesa Italiana Restaurant
2318 E. Navajo Blvd., Holbrook. ☎ 928/524-6696. Main courses $7.95–$11 lunch, $8.95–$15 dinner. AE, DISC, MC, V. Mon–Fri 11am–2pm; daily 4–9pm. ITALIAN.
Generally regarded as the best restaurant in Holbrook, Mesa Italiana serves traditional Italian dishes, including baked ziti, stuffed shells, lasagna, linguine, and pizza, at reasonable prices. Italiana mushrooms (stuffed with chicken, spinach, and fresh herbs, all topped with garlic white-wine sauce) are great. Also highly recommended is chicken Jerusalem—a chicken breast sautéed with butter, garlic, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and shrimp, all swimming in white-wine and lemon sauce.
Picnic & Camping Supplies
Just inside the north entrance to the park you'll find a gas station with a convenience store. In Holbrook, picnic supplies and general foodstuffs are available at Safeway, 702 W. Hopi Dr. (☎ 928/524-3313; www.safeway.com).
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POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE
by Eric Peterson
POINT REYES IS A 100-SQUARE-MILE PENINSULA OF DARK FORESTS, wind-sculpted dunes, endless beaches, and plunging sea cliffs. Aside from its beautiful scenery, it boasts man-made historical treasures that offer a window into California's coastal past, including lighthouses, turn-of-the-20th-century dairies and ranches, and the site of Sir Francis Drake's 1579 landing, plus a complete replica of a Coast Miwok Indian village.
The national seashore system was created to protect rural and undeveloped stretches of America's coast from the pressures of soaring real estate values and increasing population; nowhere is the success of the system more evident than at Point Reyes. Layers of human history coexist peacefully here with one of the world's most dramatic natural settings. Residents of the surrounding communities—Inverness, Point Reyes Station, and Olema—have steadfastly resisted runaway development. You won't find any strip malls or fast-food joints here, just laid-back coastal towns with cafes and country inns where gentle living prevails. The park, a 71,000-acre hammer-shaped peninsula jutting 10 miles into the Pacific and backed by Tomales Bay, abounds with wildlife, ranging from tule elk, birds, and bobcats to gray whales, sea lions, and great white sharks.
Though the peninsula's people and wildlife live in harmony above the ground, the situation beneath the soil is much more volatile. The infamous San Andreas Fault separates Point Reyes, the northernmost landmass on the Pacific Plate, from the rest of California, which rests on the North American Plate. Point Reyes is making its way toward Alaska at a rate of about 2 inches per year, but at times it has moved much faster. In 1906, Point Reyes jumped north almost 20 feet in an instant, leveling San Francisco and jolting the rest of the state. The .5-mile Earthquake Trail, near the Bear Valley Visitor Center, illustrates this geological drama with a loop through an area torn by the slipping fault. Shattered fences, rifts in the ground, and a barn knocked off its foundation by the quake illustrate that the earth is alive here. If that doesn't convince you, a look at a seismograph in the visitor center will.
Avoiding the Crowds. Though the park is heavily visited, crowds are only a problem at a few places, and only during certain times. If you visit the lighthouse on a weekend or holiday during whale season (Dec–Mar), be prepared for crowds and a wait for the shuttle that operates from Drakes