Days 7 and 8

So I didnt get the chance last night to update the blog so I get to do two nights tonight.  On Sunday morning, we left Ft. Bragg about 0730 and headed south down Highway 1 in search of breakfast.  We figured we would stop when we saw something that looked interesting.  We found a small diner next to the beach in Mendocino and went in.

There was only one other couple in the place and they looked at us like we were biker trash. I guess leather jackets, chaps and bandanas didnt fit in with their high brow ways.  We sat at the table right next to them....Breakfast was really good.  Ang had oatmeal and a muffin and I had scrambled eggs and fruit. Yeah, rough tough  biker trash.......

Highway 1 continued to wind its way along the coastline, changing from wooded areas to huge sweeping vistas along sheer drop offs to the ocean below.

We eventually made our way to Point Arenas and went out to the lighthouse there.  We were hundreds of miles from home, in a far away distant locale, and yet the Mother in Law found us.....:)

Ang on the phone with her mom

We took some pics around the lighthouse and then headed back on down the road.

When we reached Tomales Bay the road was lined with cars and people on foot.  The oyster farms were packed with folks buying their supply of fresh oysters for the July 4th holiday. I was quite surprised at the crowds at these places.  We also noticed that traffic in the opposite direction, heading out of San Francisco, was backed up for miles while we had mostly clear sailing into the city.  We did hit some traffic approaching the Golden Gate Bridge however.

We didnt stop to do the normal touristy pictures by the bridge because we have been there and done that already plus, the place was packed with tourists and we didnt want to fight the crowds there.

About 10 years ago, I was a detective in the Criminal Investigations Bureau and Angela was a dispatcher with the TPD.  I worked with a detective named Doug Fisher and Ang worked with his wife, Jeanette, in Radio.  Doug and Jeanette had a timeshare in Hawaii and they used it often.  In March 2001 they were in Hawaii when Doug lost his life in a diving accident.

Jeanette's world was shattered.  In an attempt to start over fresh, she moved back home to San Francisco.  We lost touch with her over time and many years passed.  Some time ago, Ang and Jeannette reconnected on Facebook and when Jeanette learned this week that we would be in San Francisco, she offered up her guest bedroom to us.  So, we made plans to stay with Jeanette.  However, she would not be home from work until about 8 pm so we had a few hours to kill.

We went down to the Fisherman's Wharf area to hang out.  Parking was $3/20 minutes. Thats $9/hour to park. No way was I going to pay that.  Then, we stumbled across a Harley clothing store with free motorcycle parking out front.

The nice people behind the counter agreed to keep our helmets and jackets for us while we walked around so we locked up the bike and headed back down to Fishermans Wharf.

Alcatraz Prison

Then it was time to leave the freak show and go find Jeanette's house.  She lives 3/4 mile from the beach and a few miles south of the Golden Gate Bridge.  We still had some time to kill so we went and had dinner at an authentic Chinese place where we both felt very out of place.  Besides being the only Caucasians in the place, again, we were decked out in the Harley garb.  After dinner we hung out at the beach for a while.

We went to Jeanette's and spent the rest of evening catching up with her. It took several years but she "finally got back to being me".  She went back to school and became a respiratory therapist and works at one of the local  hospitals.  Of course there were Doug stories and lots of laughs.....

Day 8 started much later than any other day of this trip.  Ang wanted to sleep in a bit and she wanted to hang out with Jeanette a little longer.  I think it was almost 11 before we actually hit the road.

We took the 280 freeway south out of San Francisco and after two near misses with cars, both of which were my fault, I was glad to get out of town.  We then took Highway 92 e/b to Hayward and it took us across a bridge that must have been at least 5 miles long.

Angela and Jeanette

We took the 92 to the 580 to the 210 to 120 and headed to Yosemite National Park.  Once we crossed the bridge, the scenery was plain and boring and the temps steadily rose.  It reached the point that we were down right hot.  I thought we were back in Phoenix.

Most of the route was freeway so we made good time but it was boring.  After about 150 miles we started the ascent to Yosemite.  As we climbed, the temps dropped  back down to something that was actually quite nice.

The road turned to twisties, which I always like, and then we finally reached the park entrance.

The road through the park was 56 miles of incredible scenery.  So far on the trip, other than a couple of deer in a motel parking lot, we had not seen any wildlife.  We finally ran across some deer in the park. It only took 2700 miles....

Ive said it many times already but the pictures just dont do the scenery justice. We crossed over Tioga Pass as we exited the park and then continued on our way to highway 395. I had now made a complete loop as I had traveled 395 northbound a week earlier heading to Lake Tahoe.  We went south to the town of Bishop, CA where we had the best meal of the trip and called it a day.

Grilled salmon, asparagus and mashed potatoes

Total mileage today was 320 miles.