HALF MOON BAY TO FORT BRAGG!!!!!

Another day and another crazy long coastal drive day.

But this time in the rain! Rain rain go away……

The Wood Clan theme song these last few weeks!

So, we are picking up last Wednesday morning leaving Half Moon Bay. The rain was forecasted for the day and sure enough it had arrived overnight.

Rain - this was pretty much our day.

We were full steam ahead until here - the outskirts of San Francisco. We thought that we would be sort of ok with it being around 9:00 am - after the morning rush hour - wrong. I'm thinking that 'always busy' would be the operative word for Highway 1 going through San Fran.

As mentioned on Facebook - although we had BIG dreams of spending a day or two touring downtown San Francisco - the parking issue totally took that away from us. We did for a second contemplate either staying at a pricey RV Park on the outskirts and busing it in, or parking on the Great Highway and using transit - but in the end with all the rain we decided to drive right through.

Sigh. Maybe one day…..

The gridlock really slowed us down. However, unlike probably most everyone else in these vehicles it didn't really matter - we had time. 

THE Golden Gate Bridge.

Sorry for all the 'bridge' pictures. I guess the Golden Gate Bridge is just one of those 'highlights' on one's travels. It was surreal and not that exciting all in one go. 

Once over the bridge there is a rest area/view point. We decided to stop for pictures - and breakfast. 

A bit far from downtown for a good picture - and cloudy of course. There is Alcatraz - the island on the horizon closest to the left. Much smaller than Derek and I expected.

From there is was back on the #1 and up - up - up - up. 

What! is this road?! 

The nightmare begins…...

Finally, over the 'hump' - surely the road will get better now - right?!

Descending into Stinson Beach. Boy - it sure has taken a while to get not very far. 

At Stinson Beach we pulled into a beachside park. Derek went to take a look….yikes! Great whites!

Not exactly a beach day. We hunkered down in the van for a while. Since we had picked up a signal from a local coffee shop we enjoyed some internet time and I wrote a few blog posts.

Back on our way.

The next few towns are all a bit of a blur … literally. I think this may be Point Reyes Station .. is it Ione? Sorry that we got your fb comment late - even in the rain it would have been nice to look for the bakery.

A man on a mission. 

La la la - not much to do but to take a picture of the map on my lap. 

Sea Ranch - a bit of a highlight because I recalled reading about the houses here wayyyy back in Architectural School.

We didn't drive in - just looked as we went by. Derek did stop at one point to take this picture out of his window though.

And that was our day.

It was a complete nightmare to me but I could never ever get that across in these pictures.

Winding? Ha!

The route from Cambria to Big Sur has NOTHING and I mean nothing on this stretch of road.

U N B E L I E V A B L E!

Do not and I mean - do not - attempt this road - so that is the #1 from north of San Fran to north of Fort Bragg - in anything larger than a car or truck. (And yes - Chris and Juan I'm talking to you - a no go for you and your trailer!) Yup - we did it in the van but it was really tense in some areas with the weight pushing us down. The road is very tight in many some places.

It was a nail biter.

I know - I'm a wimp - but really - it was THAT bad.

End rant.

Again - no place to stop and with the rain we figured that we would just get this part of the trip over with.

The novelty of driving the coast was really starting to wear off.

We spent the night in a parking lot in Fort Bragg after treating ourselves to a pizza and a pint.

Rain rain go away……

Teresa

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