Day 7: San Francisco- Carmel

Today was a great day!

We woke and went for a walk along Fisherman's Wharf. Yesterday our tour bus drove past Boudin's bakery (notorious for their sourdough) and it smelled FANTASTIC! So we thought we'd see if we could catch a late breakfast or early lunch. We walked around the bakery museum and then had an awesome lunch!!!! At the museum we did a quiz to see what bread we were and I think it was pretty spot on!

We kind of breezed thru the rest of our drive down to Carmel, where we're staying at the La Playa hotel. It overlooks the beach and I'm listening to the waves crash as I'm typing. It's a beautiful old hotel with beautiful spanish tile and details. We walked around the town for a bit, where we had a light dinner at the Hog's Breath Inn (Clint Eastwood's place) and then headed to the movie theater to see "The Help"- HOLY CRAP! What a fantastic movie!!! I might have been the only person that DIDN'T cry but it was touching and funny and great! I am foreseeing a number of Oscar nominations. I highly recommend it!

Tomorrow.... THE AQUARIUM!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!

Good Morning Alcatraz!

YUMMY chocolate!

I want to be a mermaid!

It smelled delicious!

Those signs should be much larger and ALL on the road during the entire drive!

I didn't take this photo but this is our hotel (for you, Claire)

These houses are like Hansel & Gretel houses!

We thought Clint would make an appearance but he must've been really busy!

MOMMA'S NOTES

Another wonderful day. We may be getting a little jaded about fog shrouded coastlines. We hardly stopped today and were rewarded with charming Carmel, a great hotel and a terrific movie which I cried through for both of us.

We are starting to count down the days and there is still so much to see and do.

Day 6: SAN FRANCISCO!!!!

Me and mom are relaxing in our hotel room after a wonderful dinner with our friends Nancy and Daniel Starr. They're friends Lanvey and Bill were there and it was great to have a home-cooked meal and some good company. The Starr's live in a beautiful house on one of those slanted hills and the exterior and interior detail is a-mazing!

We had a slow start this morning but ventured around and found a camera store where I was able to get a new camera (not lens), since it looks like my Japanese camera has some burned pixels. It will be going to the Japanese camera hospital for some help.

Then we headed to the marina district to get a manicure and pedicure. We had lunch at a FABULOUS place called Tacolicious- I highly recommend it! Then we went to a fabulous stationary store where I (of course) spent a pretty penny. Then off to get manicures and pedicures, which were really needed.

We were under some crunch time to see the city and a bit tired so we hopped on a bus tour and it may have been the best way to see the city! The fog cleared up for us and so did the view of the Golden Gate Bridge!

San Francisco is an awesome city with so much interesting history and life. I definitely think I will be coming back!

These hearts were everywhere and super cute!

The sign at Tacolicious

Getting my sausage toes did

LOOOOVE this name!

On top of the bus and ready for our tour!

What our guide said was the "crookedest" road in the US

huh...

Perhaps the number one reason to come back to San Fran

Books hanging from wires

Fun wall art and a great philosophy

Cool shadows

Mom checking out the Capital building

The painted ladies aka the Full House house (the red one)- I hated that show

Jimi Hendrix just chillin on Haight Ashbury street

Amazing to see without the fog!

Alcatraz was sold out :(

I wouldn't want to commute to there every day....

Nancy's house = BEAUTIFUL!

Mom had a helper while she cleaned dishes!

MOMMA'S NOTES

Great day, sunny and apparently the first time the Golden Gate wasn't enshrouded with fog. Lucky us. Eliza understates our need for the pedicures, yikes! And the open top bus tour was fantastic. I want to do another in NYC and maybe in Singapore. San Francisco is a unique and interesting city and we love it.

Homemade pizza and soup with Dan and Nancy was wonderful and very generous considering they were still elated and reeling from the wedding of their daughter Ann. Beautiful home and the visit was like a small, nostalgic tour of Japan from the art and antiques to the tea.

Tomorrow we head for Carmel, get back on rte. 1 with more chances to get car sick, see seals and whales and awesome scenery.

Day 5: Mendocino, CA- San Francisco, CA

The drive today was a little rough. Route 1, along the coast turns into a bunch of switchbacks and ups and downs along the coast. We caught some glimpses of the ocean as we drove but it was very fogged in. I'm quickly coming to realize that this may not be the best time to be doing this drive, but it's a blast nonetheless. Mom drove, and avoiding smacking me in the face when I made rude comments about her driving (which really wasn't her fault, it was the road). I watched out the passenger window in search of any pods of whales but there was no luck.... maybe tomorrow?

We drove in and out of some crazy weather again (clear blue skies and then right back into the fog). This coastline is like nothing I've ever imagined. It's unbelievably majestic. We are seeing more and more kelp forests in the water and then playfully mistaking them for seals popping their heads up to say hello.

Then we went to the Point Reyes Lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse on the West coast. It was so foggy, you had to be right up on it to see it. We hung around and then took a few steps near the cliffs and saw what I'm thinking are leopard seals, taking a snooze on the rocks.

Our destination prior to San Francisco was Bolinas, which is a town that mom's friend has told us we HAD TO see. This is a town that isn't on your typical map and all road signs have been removed by the locals to avoid major tourism- SUCKERS! Bolinas is the most unusual hippy town I've ever see, Boulder beware! It's a beautiful, small, artsy, hippitty-dippity town. The locals are.... what can only be understood when you see the town. We stayed for dinner and then headed right back into the fog to our hotel in San Francisco. We're staying at the Best Western on Fisherman's Wharf and it's a beautiful hotel within walking distance to lots and lots. We drove over the Golden Gate and probably wouldn't have even realized it had we not been stuck in traffic and saw that the metal was red. Hopefully we'll get a better view tomorrow.... HOPEFULLY!

Mendocino used to be a lumber town and these are photos and descriptions of how they brought the lumber from the cliffs onto the boats- CRAZY!

Dispensary central!

There's always time to try on hats!

Point Reyes Lighthouse

SEALS!

Back into the fog!

The few signs for Bolinas, but none of them actually SAY Bolinas!

HUGE starfish

MORE seals!

And that's our view of the Golden Gate Bridge!

MOMMA'S NOTES

Woke up to the charming town of Mendocino which looks like a stage set and I guess it was. Besides looking like New England it has these odd water towers next to or above the houses, beautiful, bursting gardens. It's a little difficult to distinguish the locals and their dogs and bicycles from the hippie hobos and their dogs and bicycles except for their cardboard signs.

My turn driving the challenge course that is route 1 or 101 following the coastline. Eliza's turn to turn green. When the fog lifted the scenery was spectacular but sometimes we were grateful for the fog because the shoulder-less roads and the dramatic descents were a little unnerving.

Bolinas was a very quirky short side trip and a delicious dinner locale. Also a pretty great sunset as we left and looked back at it across the inlet and saw egrets and seals basking on the sand bars.

Before we knew it we were in San Francisco crossing the bridge. We couldn't see much but tomorrow we may get a closer and maybe, if we're lucky, a clear view.