abg shanks: bays, bridges, wine and more friends 6-10 june

the central california beauty continues. after leaving the santa cruz area, our next overnight stop in half moon bay allowed us time to visit yet another old pal of aly’s, malinda. our long morning walk along the cliffed beach with gravy ‘hearding oncoming dogs', was a highlight of that visit.

the small historic town of pescadero just south of half moon bay, is not to be missed. 2 miles east of hwy 1, is home to the harley goat farm which is open for tours and samplings of some of their delicious goat cheeses as well as the small country store and bakery that made some of the best garlic artichoke bread (and actually the only!!) we’ve ever had. and with the hundreds of artichoke fields lining hwy 1 in full bloom, you know the bread was fresh.

aly and malinda

onward to the land of cable cars, electric trams, some of the steepest hills in any city we’ve ever been in and of course, the golden gate bridge. we cruised through san francisco (and btw, we were the only RV we saw within the city), but did manage a 2-hour stop to catch up with another college pal of aly’s. julia, was one of the 1^st pals aly met when she went off to 'college of the redwoods' in 1979 in eureka, ca (we will be passing through eureka on our way to oregon). julia, shannah (pictured earlier in the blog) and aly were (and still are) great friends from back in their late teens and early 20s and aly hadn't seen julia for ~24 years!!!

aly and julia (no, we are not outside alcatraz!!)

electric tram lines

one of the lesser steep streets in sf

the golden gate bridge from the city side

driving across the bridge

looking back over the bridge with the fog rolling in

a beautiful bridge

alcatraz with the bay bridge in the background

aly and the city

the memorial on the north side of the bridge to all sailors who have served our nation (and thank you to any of you reading this)

the road north

north of the bridge and the city


why we choose NOT to live here

an hour drive north of the city in traffic like that above, and we found ourselves in a lovely koa campground in petaluma. the next day, we toured the north san francisco coast and moved on to the beautiful vineyards of sonoma and napa counties.

while discovering sonoma county, we drove the bohemian highway, said to be one of the most scenic drives to be found anywhere in northern california. it's a distinct 10-mile roadway winding through towering redwoods, rolling pastures, rocky ravines and three charming townships--freestone, occidental and monte rio.

we also toured the small towns of tomales, dillion beach, bodega bay, valley ford, sebastopol, santa rosa, and sonoma, all delightful and appealing in their own way.

north coast of san francisco

more north coast

and more

north inland

the russian river in sonoma county (the 2nd largest river in the sf area)

long time friends jimmy and arlene hosted us and other long time friends, dave and daylene. we spent a day touring the wine country, getting special treatment sipping bubbly at mumm napa (yes, a sister winery to THEE mumm vineyard in reims, france) and other whites and reds at the artesa winery thanks to jimmy who works in the industry. jimmy and dave have been friends of aly's from college days and it's been that long since we've all been together! talk about fun!!!