California Dreaming: Day 9 - Do You Know the Way to San Jose??

How about to San Francisco? The day was going great as we left Paso Robles and drove up 101 to Salinas. We located 3 homes where our Benge relatives lived in Salinas, trying to remember them way back when. One of the neighbors watched us very closely as though he thought we were casing the place. My tendency is to just tell people what we're doing, but Carol and Kathy think I'm nuts and that no one really wants to know. Salinas obviously has fertile soil, as we saw miles and miles of fields growing vegetables and fruits. As Carol remembered, lettuce was growing in a field just blocks from the Benge home.

Shortly after leaving Salinas, we stopped at a roadside stand to buy fresh produce - peaches, strawberries and nuts. I wanted to buy avocados, 7 for $1, but I knew they wouldn't travel well. We couldn't get to Belmont, where we're bedding down for the next 4 nights, without at least one traffic jam. We found it as we tried to get back on Highway 1, but once again, everyone in California was going to the beach today, this time to New Brighton State Beach at Monterey Bay. We ditched that plan as quickly as we could, which meant at 5 mph for 7 miles. Ugh!!

After settling in to our Motel 6, we drove into San Francisco to check out Fisherman's Wharf so we'd know where we're going for the next few days. BIG MISTAKE!!! The Giants had just ended a game and all their loyal fans were pouring out of the stadium, just as we got to that part of town. So after another long delay and lots of traffic, we wound our way around on Embarcadero until we found Fisherman's Wharf, Piers 33 and 39, and we could see Alcatraz in the distance. We had a great dinner at Boudin Bistro and Bakery, then came to our local McDonalds to blog and drink.

Did we tell you how cold it is in San Francisco this week? Put it this way: we stopped at a 7-11 as soon as we parked our car because our shorts and sleeveless shirts did nothing to keep us warm in 58 degree temperatures and a wind chill factor of, say, 40. We now are the proud owners of matching polar fleece jackets with a San Francisco logo and we'll wear them every day from now on.