I Didn't Leave My Heart in San Francisco!

On the way out of Salinas, we stopped at the California Welcome Center and picked up loads of information about the Central and Redwood Coasts.

The lady there was very helpful, and when Larry told her that we were planning on going over the Golden Gate Bridge, she suggested that we take the road that goes by Half Moon Bay. Always open to suggestions from the locals, we followed her directions. Wrong! The traffic was horrendous. Maybe because it was a beautiful Sunday morning, everyone in the area seemed to headed for Half Moon Bay. We would have liked to turn off to pay it a visit as well, but we were afraid that if we got off the road, we'd never be able to get back on! It took us about four hours to go a little over 80 miles, and when we finally were approaching San Francisco, we were pretty much at a standstill. I did enjoy the pretty little pastel  houses on the side of the highway, though ...

Larry & I both noticed this chair sitting on the curb beside this house. I imagined a little old Chinese man sitting there in the evening, reading his paper and chatting with his neighbors as they pass by...

We can finally see the Golden Gate Bridge!

I had been a little nervous about driving over the bridge, but compared to getting there, it was nothing! We went along quite smoothly, and were planning on turning off onto the viewing area at the other end, but the line of cars was so long, that we just kept on going.

We were both so stressed out after the ordeal of the drive, and I was starving, so we stopped somewhere near Sausalito and grabbed a bite at a Panda Express in a strip mall. We didn't have the energy to look for a cute little fish and chip place on the water. We hit the road again and headed for Petaluma and the KOA,
It was OK, but $60 seemed a bit steep! At that point, we just wanted to get off the road and find the Lagunitas Brewery! We were happy to learn that they were dog-friendly, so we cleaned up a little, and the three of us piled into the car, heading into town. Lagunitas was much larger than we had imagined, and really busy! It seemed to be the place to be!  Larry has been a big fan of Lagunitas beer for years, and when we discovered that Petaluma was on our route, we were pretty excited.

The place was packed, and we couldn't see a single place to sit. Larry was ready to turn around and leave, when we spotted a table with three people and two empty chairs. We walked over and asked if we could joint them, and they said "Of course." They were lovely people, and we had a great conversation. Duchess was pretty stressed out by all of the excitement and the other dogs, but she did better than I expected. We had a beet-arugula salad, Larry got a growler of Lucky 13 to go...

And it was time to leave. But first we stopped at the Swag Shop and made a couple of purchases, including some doggy bites!

A great ending to a not so great day!