California Road Trip of a Lifetime Day 2 - San Francisco, Sausalito, Santa Cruz

I must start off by telling you how nice it was to wake up in San Francisco.  I am in love with that city.  It will forever have my heart.  You may remember one of my many previous blog posts back in October about San Fran.

We woke up around 8 am.  Why?!?!  No clue, maybe because it was 10 am our time.  Anyhow, we got dressed and headed out the door to the farmers market, which I must say is AMAZING!  It if full of tons and tons of tents with all kinds of organic fruits, veggies, flowers, and yummy food.  We enjoyed a delicious breakfast on the pier with some pretty good people watching.  The pier was packed!  Probably because the San Francisco Marathon was the very next day...bummer...I shoulda trained for it...if only I would have known.

After breakfast and the farmers market, I became a model for my photographer husband and was forced to take way too many took a whole bunch of photos as we headed on down to pier 33.

We took a left on Bay Street and picked up our nifty nissan rental car, but not before we saw some folks on a segway tour, of course Andrew HAD to take pics of them.  I just kept on walking and pretended I wasn't related for a split second.

We checked out of the Hotel Griffon by noon and made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Ahhh what a site!  It is A-Freakin-Mazing!  What an incredible architectural structure!  One that you must see to appreciate it's beauty...that's for sure!

We stopped, took a few pics, admired the beauty a little more, it just never gets old, and then headed on down to Sausalito, which is an amazing little town right on the bay with both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate in its background, to enjoy a delicious lunch at the Sausalito Bakery and Cafe.  We became a fan of this place the last time we went, last October.  It is delicious.  Their sandwiches are mouthwatering and their cookies...to die for!  If you ever go to Sausalito, it is a must go!

After browsing a few shops, eating some ice cream, admiring an old Porsche and a couple of Lamborghinis, and taking a couple of pics we headed south!

After half an hour of getting lost enjoying the back roads of San Fran, we headed down Highway 1 towards Santa Cruz.  Driving down the coast was incredible.  The lush greenery, the views of the Pacific Ocean, the waves crashing along the shoreline, the fields of wildflowers, the mountains in the background, it was was stunning!  We drove for a couple of hours, with the windows down, the breeze in our face, and music in the background and just enjoyed part of God's amazing creation.

We arrived in Santa Cruz around 5 pm and found a hotel that had only one room left, the Continental Inn on Ocean Avenue.  We Andrew called a lot of the other surrounding hotels and this one was the only one with vacancy.  That's what we get for winging it...the hotel suits us just fine though.  No complaints here!  It is in a good location and close to the boardwalk.

After we relaxed and freshened up a bit, we left for dinner.  We drove past the famous amusement park boardwalk and ended up down by the wharf.  It was there that we saw some pretty talkative sea lions and a pretty incredible view of the ocean and boardwalk.

We wandered on down the wharf and ended up at Riva's Restaurant/Bar, where we enjoyed some delicious seafood at Riva's.  For those in the area, I highly recommend a bowl of clam chowder and the fish and calamari...delicious!

It was chilly!  I think the high today was 65 or so, and after the sun set it was probably 55 degrees outside, much different than the 105 degree weather back home, that's for sure!  After dinner we drove down Pacific Avenue hoping to catch the freak show...but there wasn't one.  However, downtown is pretty cool and has lots of cute shops.

After all that, I'd have to say that Day 2 of our California coastal road trip of a lifetime was a huge success!  Thanks in part to my partner in crime, who makes every vacation full of great memories and good times!  I heart him to the moon and back.

Stay tuned for Day 3...