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I know, another running intro - but that's the way our days start. I took a drive to the shoreline near the foot of the Golden Gate then ran up the hill through the trail in the bush to get to the bridge. It's a fantastic run across the bridge - great views, sunrise appearing over San Francisco and fog out shrouding Alcatraz. After hitting the other side I stumbled across the path under the bridge, so tackled the climb to the upper lookout. It's a serious climb in a car, but on foot didn't seem quite so daunting. Lots of photo stops, some is trail through bush, some between the crash barrier and a rather steep drop but ultimately I was foiled by a State Trooper guarding the last mile to the top. Closed for the day 'but only until 5'. Filming or something like that. Ran back to the car and dashed back to the hotel - with most of them ready to go. 16 km all up, so well short of ideal....only 3 week till the Mickey Mouse Marathon!
We took a last trip around San Fran - via the 'Crookedest' Street and the Bridge base, then a meander through Golden Gate Park. We then hit Highway 1 down the coast and headed to Monterey. Lots of steep hills, ocassional cliffs, and roads varying from Freeway to windy single lane (each way) B grade roads. Highway One! Huh!
Montereay Aquarium was quite spectacular. Amazing jellyfish were the standout, enormous fronted aquariums and active displays (Waves crashing over head, fish swimming in a giant cicular overhead dome etc) were quiate amazing. We'd skipped lunch to make up time, but fish and chips didn't seem right out of respect for all the 'fishes'. Mexican it was, and excellent it turned out to be. Cheap to boot!
We drove another hour ish (In the dark) till be got to Big Sur, or at least we thought it was. Turns out the real Big Sur is 9 miles on, but this is just another Big Sur, only smaller. Little Big Sur seems more appropriate. It's a cosy cabin with a view we cant see. Morning light should help.
Again the driving was very pleasant. Fuel still cheap out in this remote area (It's surprisingly remote!), roads are very good, drivers not too fast, dont tailgate etc etc. Would love to bottle some of that and bring it home.
Yvonne is looking forward to a night without sirens blaring and shouting matches on the street. You don't appreciate how noisy San Fran is until you're either in one of their amazing parks, or well away from the place.
The girls have an enormous king bed to share, but no TV to watch(The last few nights have been Xmas movies). Tomorrow will be a long day in the car so we're hopeful they'll sleep well AND NOT BE GRUMPY! Touch wood!
One more day heading down the coast to LA, then we'll be off to New York. Will be very sad to leave California, but excited about the next chapter!
Wont miss: Trying to fit our luggage in the boot! It's cavernous, but every nook and cranny is filled!
Will miss: The freedom of driving everywhere. The fact they built all their cars the wrong way round is the only problem. Road rules are defintely better than ours, Four Way Stop signs seem crazy, but work well. Turn Right on Red seems dangerous but isn't. Traffic lights and Pedestrian lights make much more sense than ours. Traffic lights are synchronized when they should be (San Francisco has then every 200 metres in parts. You can look ahead and see 40 sets of lights on some of the streets, so they need to be!) Speed limits and signage around towns and slow areas is great. Surprised we haven't absorbed some of them.
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Joe Michael New York, huh....and so the shopping starts....zzzzzz....Maceys....Bloomingdales.....Saks on Fifth Avenue...good luck, my Friend. You have not YET begun to zzzzz