Sideways in the Northeast: XC Trip day 14

Uncle Richard escorted us out of Santa Maria and onto the Pacific Coast Highway up to Ragged Point. This was a pleasant ride, we were expecting it to be chilly and foggy, and it was, but still a nice day. We stopped to look at Elephant Seals at one of the roadside pull-offs where they had signs saying we could see them. Cool.

At Ragged Point we warmed up with a cup of coffee and a danish, said goodbye to Uncle Richard and headed north on Rt 1. We soon fell in behind a little red Karmann Ghia, and had a very entertaining time following him as he carved his way through traffic. The guy driving (flogging) it was really getting the most out of that car, and in fact he got away from us. We caught up with him at one point, but then it was time for a lunch break and we never saw him again.

We had lunch in Big Sur, at a great restaurant looking out over the ocean. While we were eating we watched an Otter diving in the kelp beds and eating clams. More coolness.

After Big Sur Rt 1 gets a bit less scenic until you reach Santa Cruz, which was where we headed inland on Rt 17 to bring us into San Fran. I missed a turn that would have given us a nicer ride, but we still got to our hotel by the airport in plenty of time to check in and do some exploring. We decided to head over to Muir Woods, which meant crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. I wasn't sure what the best route would be, but I don't think it would have mattered, the traffic was pretty bad everywhere, since this was Labor day weekend.

Unfortunately, the bridge was wrapped in dense fog, so you couldn't really see much at all. I was bummed, 'cause this was Hannah's first time here and it would've been nice to have a clear day to see the bridge and the view. Anyway, we pulled off into Sausalito so that she could check out the houseboats in the harbor. Then we headed on to the entry road to Muir. This is a very tight and fun 2 lane road that winds down into the park. We got there with only about a half hour of daylight remaining, so we just walked into the main trail far enough to see and touch some Redwoods. It was dark by the time we crossed the bridge again, and we decided to call it a day and headed back to the hotel.

Unc. Richard's house.