The plan was to go to Half Moon Bay for Mother's Day to be with daughter Terri and family. It is so much work for them to pack up the two babies and Daniel, and be gone for any length of time, especially in the car. This is home territory for yours truly, moving here in 1969 when Terri was 5 months old, and departing via motorhome in 1995 when the "adventure began"! So here are the mandatory pictures; it's a condition of grandparenthood...
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| The little fam! |
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| Damien is 1 year old! |
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| Liliana, 2 1/2, along the Coastal trail |
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| Playing among the wildflowers on the sand dunes |
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| Daniel with Darragh ready for his Junior Prom |
The Half Moon Bay/Coastside area is home to commercial fishing, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, pumpkins, flower farms, giant waves and Maverick's Surfing, and just 30 miles south of San Francisco on windy, narrow Highway 1. This sleepy coastal town was "discovered" during the Silicon Valley tech explosion and real estate prices soared through the roof. When we sold the house in '98 the boom had not quite arrived unfortunately!
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| Coastal bluffs |
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| Pillar Point Harbor for commercial & pleasure boats |
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| During pumpkin season in October |
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| Flowers are a big industry here |
After Mother's Day weekend we drove up to Sutter Creek along Highway 49 in the Gold Country to visit friends Joan and Don, and to continue formulating The plan.
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| We have lovely parking on their 5 acres |
The plan started out with Howard and I thinking we'd do a little side trip before returning to the Bay Area and family. We pored over maps looking for a reasonably short itinerary that covered areas we had not explored before. And Bingo...The Eastern Sierras along Highway 395 became an obvious choice. We could even make it a loop trip returning through Mojave and north on Highway 99 and visit our Escapee's Park Sierra, and Yosemite Nat'l Park. Now throw Social Media aka Facebook into the works and The Plan took on a life of its own, thanks to so many comments and suggestions.
Hopefully, if you click on this map you will be able to see the loop; over 1400 miles...Yikes! See what I mean about "taking on a life of its own"!
We would be very grateful to get your suggestions on places, hikes, historic monuments, bakeries, scenic drives, restaurants, etc., to add to what we have accumulated so far. We hope you will follow along with us on this new adventure....
6 comments:
Cute grandkids! I need to take your lead and post some photos of our grands when we get bavk to FL this winter. Chuck is from CA so I shared your blog with him!
Love those shots of Damien in his car and Liliana amongst the flowers. They are both adorable.
I'm so looking forward to this road trip.
Fun trip(s) planned! We've not visited much of your route, so be sure to keep a good photo diary - ha! - as if she wouldn't... Your last couple of posts make me almost homesick for the Bay Area. Loved The City!! I kinda "grew up" in that area - from age 18 to 27. And then in later years on the Peninsula, and over the hill to our HMB friends. Thanks.
I can't believe how big Liliana is now ... she and Abi were born around the same time but, boy, do they grow up fast!! Damien is so cute!
I always love your photos ... forget to comment on them here as well as when I do on FB .... lol
Cute babies - such sweet little faces. One not to be missed bakery - Schats in Bishop, CA. Get some Sheepherder bread. Also, Brown's Millpond Campground between June Lake and Bishop is a great little campground. Brown's Town on the south end of Bishop is owned by the same folks and is another nice place to park. The Lone Pine Film History Museum in Lone Pine is a nice stop and a drive into the Alabama Hills is very interesting. Don't know what kind of suggestions you got on FB but those are just a few of my favorites in the area.
Donna,...your suggestions are just what we're looking for! Funny, Shats Bakery has been mentioned a lot. We will definitely look for Brown's Millpond CG; sounds like our kind of place. Thanks!
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