Some you win... and some you doubly lose. Only 3 hours or so the fast way from Sebastopol, in the Sonoma Valley (think wine), to Monterey - so why not turn right immediately south of the Golden Gate Bridge and follow the scenic, coastal route? Reason 1: the unadvertised, until you hit the road barrier, SF Nike Women's Marathon. Nice to watch the very slow tail enders going past you, but it does get a bit boring after an hour. Time to abort, head inland and rejoin the coast road further south. Which brings us to reason 2: the famous Pacific fog. Half a mile inland there is beautiful blue sky, but on the coast you can see nothing but the tail lights in front.

But we made it to Monterey eventually. We are sitting by the motel pool; it is 4.15 pm, 80 degrees or so and totally blue here. We have a short hike scheduled before dinner, but...

As for Sebastopol, we very much enjoyed our short time with nephew Jeff, Erin and precocious 5 year old Wyatt. Having hiked 10 miles on the way north from SF, with lunch on a wonderful but completely empty (apart from some friendly birds) beach, we were glad Jeff had only a short hike planned for us on the Saturday. What he didn't tell us was that 'short' meant a bit less than 10 miles and the hike was more down and up than a roller coaster ride. Now 4.30 pm and that pre-meal hike is looking less and less likely. And the pool does look inviting.