Trist's Travels

Since we decided we’re going north, I still wanted Haley to see a little bit of the Pacific Coast Highway driving southbound because there’s nothing like driving on that gorgeous two lane twisting, winding road where one wrong move and you’re soaring (or crashing) hundreds of feet down to the Pacific Ocean. So we hopped in Penny (my trusty old dark blue Saturn Vue, who I PRAY will make it to the east coast) and headed south for the day. Not 20 minutes into our drive, we see a really cool graffitied-up abandoned structure just hanging out right on top of a cliff, so naturally we had to stop and explore.

Little did we know, we were about to get some pretty badass free whale watching. We didn't realize that we were technically at the Gray Whale Cove State Beach (if I'm being completely honest we didn't figure that out until we were looking at our pictures on our phones and that was the location...thank God for iPhones!) As we were having our little photo shoot in front of the abandoned building I kept hearing what honestly sounded like whales shooting water out of their blowholes, so I peered over the side of the cliff and to my surprise there were about a dozen Gray Whales scattered throughout the water! We couldn't quite tell what they were doing but we got to talking with some people who had been there all day and they informed us they were feeding. There were quite a few boats scattered out in the ocean as well, apparently they were observing the feeding habits of these whales...how do I get that job?! It was hard to get any really good pictures of the whales from how high up we were but we did manage to get this little clip!

We didn't really want to leave the whales but our stomachs were starting to growl so it was time to continue on down to Half Moon Bay. Now I hadn't been to that area in years and I remembered there being more to do and see there. Aside from The Ritz Carlton, and we didn't feel like spending that kind of money on lunch, there weren't too many food options right on the beach. We decided to head back into the city to have a late lunch in Sausalito at one of my favorite restaurants - The Spinnaker! I've been going there for as long as I can remember and my mom Nance, who is from San Francisco, has been going there even longer. It hasn't changed one bit since I've been going and Nance say's it's been that way forever. It's built on stilts out over the water with floor to ceiling windows on three sides, so the view is outstanding and the food matches! Sausalito itself is by far one of my favorite little towns; it's well known for its abundance of house boats. Actually I could write an entire post just on Sausalito, a few years back I biked across the Golden Gate Bridge down into Sausalito so I'll dig up some old pictures from that day and share with you all the wonders this little town has to offer! After lunch I took Haley to see The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, all 163 of them! Each level of the stairs are a different design all made from mosaic tiles; personally I think it's one of the coolest hidden gems in the city! We took our pictures and watched the sunset before heading back home across the bay. It was a great last night for me to spend in this beautiful city before we start this month long journey back east. San Francisco you have my heart and I will be back!!