California, part 2

We spent the remainder of the day having a bit of a look at Sausalito on the Bay side of Marin County. This was pretty nice, and I was kept busy slathering factor 50 all over me. I think I neglected to mention in my last post that I had got sunburnt. In fact a lot sunburnt. It appears having no roof or windows caused the sun to, well, burn me.

You could even tell that I had been driving north, as it was my left side that had caught the afternoon sun, leaving it beetroot red, whilst my other was as pale as it was back in Liverpool. Incidentally, it was so obvious that I couldn’t leave the hotel due to the locals gathering round and pointing.

In the evening we headed out for a bit to eat at a fairly swanky place near Union Square after partaking in a quick cocktail at the ‘Cheesecake Factory’ on the top floor of Macy’s department store. The view was pretty good, and as a consequence of getting my bearings back I routemarched Tom down to the Moscone convention Center in order to find a cool bar where I had been several years back. Of course, it was closed (at 11pm on a Friday night for Chrissake, in downtown San Francisco! CLOSED. What is the world coming to? No wonder America is in the state it is!)

On Saturday we headed out of San Francisco over the Golden Gate and picked up Highway One again which resumed its usual twisting high on the cliffs of the Pacific Coast.
After 30 minutes of cliff driving, we dropped down into a small town and pulled in for breakfast, California style. 2 eggs (over easy), on wheat toast and home fried potatoes with fresh squeezed orange juice and some great coffee. This was worth the trip alone! Awesome! Especially as we were sat outside under the Californian Blue Sky.

Later, and mainly by chance, we stopped at the Point Reyes State Park which sits primarily on land that is on a different tectonic plate to the mainland – it’s moving north relative to the rest of the USA at around 2 inches per year. Its geology is related to that over 300 miles south – it’s come nearly as far as I have, but to be fair I made it quicker. But then I do have a convertible. Did I mention that?

It is split from the US by the San Andreas fault, and crossing it was pretty interesting – looking at satellite images that they have in the visitor centre it’s clear to see what is going on. We rounded a corner to find ourselves in thick fog, with the topography changing from steep cliffs to rolling hills, and the weather changing from California to Scotland. There’s a lighthouse on the coast, and it’s built halfway down the cliffs so that the light can be seen under the fog layer. When we visited, it was busy flashing away with the mournful sound of the foghorn very much in evidence. To reach it we had to descend over 300 narrow steps, and unfortunately Tom had to push several small kids down the cliff as they were taking far too long by themselves.

Later in the day we had an experiment with salt water taffy (which is nice by the way – a sort of a fudge without the fudge flavour), and continued north, hitting fog once again. We turned inland towards Clear Lake, which sounded like a nice resort on a, well, clear lake. It turned out to have a lake all right, but that was it. Nothing else. Nada.

We had a beer or three anyway before turning in, and headed out in the morning with a wheelspin towards the Napa Valley. Breakfast was again pretty good, and driving through the vineyards was really cool! I have some photos to get online!

So, it was time to head back to San Francisco for our flights that evening, so back down Highway 1, across the Golden Gate one final time with the roof down, through the parks, and we coasted in to the Hertz rental area at a perfect time.

We bade each other farewell as I was heading back to Houston, Tom to London, and I climbed back on board a Continental Jet. Takeoff was awesome, with superb views of the bay area, and the fog was rolling in, pouring through the Golden Gate, spilling up the coastal cliffs and pushing inland. I really wish I had my camera handy.

I arrived back in Houston to an excited text message from Tom. He’d got himself upgraded to business class. Not bad! A nice flat bed for the overnight to London…

posted by Sam @ 19:08