San Francisco

Patiently waiting for his morning walk
We woke up today in Monterey, knowing we were only two hours drive from our final destination in San Francisco, so we found a local beach. The waitress who was complimenting his behavior at the bistro yesterday mentioned that she liked taking her dog to Del Monte Beach, so I found that one and took River.
It seems this beach was also a bit of a wildlife preserve. And one of the creatures being protected was a legless lizard, which is different from a snake.  I had no idea such things existed.



Time flies when we’re at the beach, and before I knew it, we had been there for two hours and it was time for some lunch.
Let's go eat!

So, after a quick consult with my Bring Fido app, I found a dog friendly bakery/cafe with outdoor seating and had lunch there. I ordered a basil burger, which was supposed to come with pesto, but it didn’t seem to have any pesto on it.  And it had a funny flavor like meat that has been in the refrigerator for a day or two too long.  But I ate it anyway, because I flaunt death on a daily basis like that.

In fact, just last night I had thought I was going to have to order out or go pick up something for dinner, but when I rummaged through my cooler, I found that I still had one meal left from my cooking stint in Las Cruces, five days earlier. I thought I had finished all of them so I wasn’t diligent about keeping the ice fresh for that last day. The avocado had turned mostly brown and there wasn’t any meat in this meal, although there were eggs. I didn’t smell anything funky, and the avocado didn’t have that rancid bacon flavor that indicates it’s not good, so I ate it. Yum. But then about half an hour later, my stomach started to hurt. Not terribly, but just like it tensed up and stayed that way for an hour or so. No other symptoms. I’m fine.

Jason - 2; Death - 0



After lunch, we headed to San Francisco.

In Santa Cruz, we hit the 9000 mile mark for the trip.

It’s amazing how familiar I am with most of the drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco as I took that trip growing up more times than I can count. But there are certain pockets of highway that I seemed to miss. Down in LA, for example, I had never explored Palos Verdes nor Marina Del Rey, but I saw them both on this trip. And the section of CA Highway 1 between Monterey and Castroville was also unfamiliar territory. I’ve been to Santa Cruz scores of times, but usually opted to take US 101. Mini Navigation oftentimes takes me on routes that are shorter, but that require me to go off the main highway and take more local type highways. So I got to drive through Los Gatos, which is another place I’d often heard of but never been.

We arrived in San Francisco and checked in and then I took River for an urban walk. It was the most urban place he’s ever been, and he seemed to really enjoy it. In fact, according to River, “This place is great! There’s urine on EVERYTHING!”

Staying at Motel 6s across the country has exposed me to some of the lower rent districts in many of the cities and towns we’ve visited and this was no exception. The motel is on the corner of Geary and Larkin, which is the heart of the Tenderloin district. 

We sort of found a park.  Well, it is marked as a park on my GoogleMaps, but it seems more like the cement courtyard of a government building with some decorative grasses near the sidewalk.  But decorative grasses are one of River’s favorites, so he was in a little bit of heaven.

We’ll rest a little bit and then go out again later to find something to eat for dinner. 



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