Road Trip: Half Moon Bay, etc.

Today I went to the coast, starting in Half Moon Bay and working my way down to Santa Cruz. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful and sunny. It was still cold, but at least I was able to shed the down jacket in favor of a hooded sweatshirt.

There were a lot of rusty sculptures lining the road to Half Moon Bay.

When I arrived in town, I found the visitor's center and got the lowdown on where to eat and where to take the dog to work off her excess energy. That led me to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, where I had a delicious lunch and discovered that, much to my dismay, the seas were flat at the world-famous Maverick's and there wouldn't be any surfers to watch. My waiter at the brewery said that there might be some people surfing a few miles north at Montara State Beach. No surfers there, either, but it was a beautiful beach with curling waves, and Sadie and I had a nice walk there. Sadie rolled in a dead bird carcass, which pretty much made her day. I was not quite so enthused.

After that we jumped back in the car and headed south to Santa Cruz to see the famous boardwalk and the Mystery Spot. It's funny how before I went on this road trip, driving 50 miles was a huge deal to me - I don't really like driving that far. But now it's a drop in the travel bucket. Not that I plan to become a roadhog once I get home!

We stopped at San Gregorio State Beach, but didn't stay long because the sign said 'no dogs on the beach.' I'm a law-abiding citizen, especially when I think I might get caught. Plus I was running out of time because I was due back in the city at 4:40 to pick up Molly at the airport. Molly actually lives here in San Francisco, but she was in Seattle visiting family. Since I'm here, I offered to pick her up at the airport. I thought that was pretty funny since I don't even live here, but I'm glad it all worked out!

Finally we arrived in Santa Cruz and hit the boardwalk. The place was deserted - most of the shops were closed, and the boardwalk was closed. The good news is there was plenty of parking! We had taken but a few steps onto the deserted boardwalk when a security guard appeared and said, "Excuse me, ma'am. Unfortunately no dogs are allowed on the boardwalk." I said, "are they allowed on the beach?" He said, "No, but that's not our area of responsibility." I asked, "so if we run across the boardwalk to the beach, you didn't see anything then?" He laughed and said, "that's right." So we scampered. As far as beaches go, it wasn't nearly as impressive as the rest of Half Moon Bay, but the sun was shining on me and it was quiet and peaceful, and that was enough. Then it was time to jump on the road back to the city to pick up Molly. I really enjoyed my drive down Highway 1 a/k/a Cabrillo Highway, and I think I will head down to Carmel after I leave San Francisco and work my way back up to Santa Cruz from that direction.

After I picked up Molly at SFO, we drove to her absolutely darling apartment in Cole Valley, which is a neighborhood just a few blocks from the Haight. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Cole Valley, which was good but not otherwordly good like Mona Lisa, a restaurant in North Beach. Seriously. If you're in SF and you want Italian, you MUST go there. That's where Molly and I ate in June when I came down to visit.

Molly's apartment in Cole Valley - most adorable!

So far I've had a Marin day and a Half Moon Bay day, with a bit of the city thrown in at night. Tomorrow is all city! Molly is taking me on her special tour, and I am finally going to go to the tourist spots. I'm dying to go to Lombard Street!

As always, more pictures can be found here