Point Reyes National Seashore

What a heartbreakingly beautiful place to visit on our last day on the West Coast.

First, go pick up the car. Second, get disoriented and lose $4 to the Bay Bridge. Stop halfway at Yerba Buena Island and pretend this was a planned photo-op.

Get back on track and start to drive north.

And drive...

And drive...

And get to Point Reyes Station, a town on the San Andreas Fault with a population of 350.

Eat some lunch, then drive some more. Embark on 20 miles of winding road that will take us out to a lighthouse. Gape at everything - green, rolling pastures that drop off into rocky cliffs, surrounded on all sides by an ocean that is an unreal shade of blue.

Get so very close to the end, and then meet some unexpected pedestrians crossing the street. Receive some glares as they pass. Wait patiently anyway, as they could destroy the rented Kia.

And after that, there just aren't words:

Forget that groundhog

Here is how we know spring is here in VA, a whole day early:

Open windows = happy kitties.

some of the SanFran food

Bobby G's Pizzeria - our last night there

Point Reyes Station - The Station House Cafe

Fried oysters. Big portions.

Berkeley - Octoberfeast

sugary thing + pretzel croissant + free coffee = $5 (so yum and such a deal)

Balompié - The Mission

pupusas and black bean empanadas

long wait, but the nicest staff we encountered on our trip

Cream - a warm cookie sandwich for $1.50

XOXO Truffles - tiny bits of goodness

Pyramid Brewery

San Francisco

Last week we traveled to the distant land of California, where we saw many new and wondrous things, and became accustomed to their strange ways. Their pagan gods make sure that they always have fresh fruit available, at half the cost of what it would be in a VA grocery store. To appease these gods and continue to receive bountiful produce, Californians must participate in a ritual referred to as "recycling". While other places simply dabble in recycling, California recycles with a calculated and detailed vengeance. Discarding of our trash there was daunting, and I began to look forward to finding a standalone trash cans whenever we needed to do so - without a row of additional recycling bins available, we were free to continue our lazy, wasteful ways.

Clearly, our semi-grown-up vacation taught us a lot. For example, we got lost and stuck going over bridges on both sides of the country, but these misadventures did take us to exciting new places, such as "Yerba Buena Island" and "Maryland". Here are some of the more "typical" San Francisco city photos.