GNOMES: Guys Night Out Monthly Excursion Society
"GNOMES" is a social group that meets every four weeks, coinciding with the proximity of our traveling brother, Tom. The name was laid on the group by Gaither Lowenstein, Academic and Rock Star.
Most of the photos here were taken during our annual summer migrations to Irish Beach on the Mendocino Coast in 2003-2005. Irish Beach is a beautiful little community just north of Manchester on Highway 1 on the Pacific Coast. Our fearless leader, head organizer and Grand Poobah Jim makes all of the arrangements for our trips and does a mighty fine job of it, to be sure.
Bruce tends to the BBQ (above, right) out on the back deck on Thursday nite as the sun is lowering in the west. The view from the cabin is breathtaking whether you look south down the beach (above) or west out to sea (below).
The weather was beautiful and lasted all weekend. Even the fog stayed offshore, allowing for the beautiful red layered sunset shot on the right.
Below, Tom, Rich, Mike, Bruce and Jim enjoy the warm afternoon sunshine out on the deck on Saturday. Earlier in the day we had a chance to hike several miles up the beach and back, stopping along the way for the photo, below, right.
Even though it was summer, the lack of coastal fog really kept the temperatures comfortable. During the afternoon, it was hot enough to lure Rich into the ocean. The two pictures above were taken moments apart.
In the next shot, Bruce and Jim are preparing breakfast. Looks like I caught Bruce a bit off guard.
The Point Arena Lighthouse is only a short drive south of Manchester and was was holding an open house during one of our weekends. So we took advantage of the opportunity to look around and take a hike along the cliffs.
As a tradition, and because it's when Tom comes through Ukiah, every four weeks we gather at a local eatery or one of our homes and enjoy some good food and wine/ale/etc. On the right, we've invaded Ross' spread out off of Orr Springs Road. We took a hike in the early evening over some pretty rough terrain. We even had to divert at one point as a rattlesnake was blocking our path.