Day 10 - Monterey - Woodland, CA

On our final driving day, we headed back north from Monterey.  After checking out the wharf area, including Cannery Row (think Steinbeck) we headed back towards Santa Cruz on California 1.  Just north of Monterey we saw that today, being Monday, migrant workers were out in the fields working and harvesting crops.  Although it was hard to tell what was growing, we're pretty sure more than one field had lettuce or spinach, maybe broccoli.

Further north, near Pescadero, we finally saw surfers trying to catch some waves.  Additionally there were two wind surfers using big crescent shaped kites to go in and out from the shore.  On the way out, they would go airborne as they jumped each wave.  It was fun to watch them and I was happy to see the quintessential beat up VW bug with a surfer hanging out in the parking lot!

Our lunch stop was at Half Moon Bay in a wonderful Italian place.  The owners had just built a new building having lost their lease at a previous location.  The new digs were really nicely done.  An open air market kind of feel.  The best part of the meal (if you know me at all) was dessert:  Ghirardelli butterscotch pudding!

After lunch we continued our northern trek and were soon in the outskirts of San Francisco.  We wanted to avoid the city as much as possible so we continued up California 1 to the Skyline Highway then the Great Highway, entering San Francisco by Golden Gate Park from the west.  Cutting through The Presidio we were soon on the Golden Gate Bridge with Alcatrez off to the right.  After crossing the bridge, we made our way up the mountain to visit the vista point that I've been to before with my family.  It offers great views of the bridge and the city in the background.  Today was a bonus in that the wind was gusting off the ocean.

Our next stop was Muir Woods, a surprisingly short drive north of the Golden Gate, but yet another fun, curvy road.  We arrived mid-afternoon and were soon on the trails headed into the woods.  This site is run by the National Park Service and it's clearly the spot for city dwellers to venture into nature.  It was busier than Redwood Nat'l Park and the Park Service was doing extensive renovations.  They are working to increase the salmon population in the creek that runs through the middle of the park in addition to making path and trail improvements.  What that meant for us is lots of chainsaws and some front loaders.  The site itself, however, was very beautiful and a great tribute to the man for whom it's named.

We had to skip Point Reyes on a previous day due to time, so we ventured that way after Muir Woods.  Back on California 1, we passed the overlook for Muir Beach where the fog was blowing in and up over the hills.  A little further north, we stopped at a pullout to look back at where we had just been when out of the blue a coyote sauntered in front of our car and walked to our left.  No bear sightings on this trip, but coyote...yes!

We arrived at the Point Reyes Visitor Center after it closed and as I looked at our time, I knew we needed to just move on in order to get to our hotel near Sacramento.  Point Reyes will have to make a future itinerary.  Moving back east, we motored through the hills, knolls, and mountains around Novato, Petaluma, and then down into Sonoma and Napa:  wine country!  Wineries and vineyards were all around, literally covering entire hillsides with grapes.  A neat sight to see!  Dinner was in downtown Napa at a wonderful spot that had few patrons, surprisingly.  A short time later, we were near the Sacramento Airport at our hotel and packing things for our return trip.

This has been a wonderful adventure and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to go.  Big thanks to Carolyn for always been a wonderful traveling companion as well.

I'll end with a quote that was at Muir Woods; a fitting end for sure!

I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. -- John Muir