(A blog series on the adventures my wife and I enjoyed during our honeymoon.)
California! We were so excited that the trip had finally arrived. We’d planned for it for more than a year, but at the same time, made virtually no plans for the time we were there.
To help you understand why we made no plans, we have four (wonderful) children between the two of us. They light up our lives. Being a parent is an incredible thing, but as any parent knows, it will keep you very scheduled! With four youngsters around, that is a lot of rides back and forth between sporting events, friends’ houses, and everything in between. We have an absolute blast with our crew, but we are busy folks.
It was time to give the daily planner a rest and just go exploring. And so, we did. We’ve been married for a little more than a year, and it ended up being a perfect time to take our “official” honeymoon together.
Our trip? San Francisco to San Diego, along Highway 1. If you’ve never done it…do it.
We landed in San Francisco on a sunny afternoon, picked up our rental car and headed out. Side note: We really liked the rental. It was a Jeep Compass. Nice ride, handles well, plenty of room, looks pretty sharp, and I’m pretty sure we only spent 60 bucks on gas for the entire trip. Might have to get one, the next time we’re in the market for a vehicle. But, I digress.
I have no doubt San Francisco is a wonderful city. But, the two of us aren’t really into big cities and we had our eyes on other places in the area. Sausalito was one of those places, so we headed there to check it out. It did not disappoint. (Click on the collage to see the slideshow.)
What a fun little town. Carved out along the edge of the water, this is a great place for spending a day bicycling (we must have seen a thousand bikes that afternoon,) poking your head into the little shops, walking along the harbor, or grabbing a tasty bite to eat.
One of the things we noticed right away was the houses sitting on the hills. So many of them, with a nice variety of architectural styles. This became a common theme along our journey and wherever we went, we enjoyed looking at all of the homes tucked into hills and mountains.
We took a walk around Sausalito and then enjoyed a tasty meal at The Trident. Waterfront dining, fresh food…good stuff.
As the day wound down, we decided to scope out a good place to view the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. We found a spot on Kirby Cove Rd. just northwest of it; an elevated location with panoramic views of the bridge and the city behind it.
It was everything I imagined it to be, and more. What an amazing structure. Wow! The thing is huge, too. Snapped a bunch of pictures of the bridge and just took an hour or two to enjoy the view and relax.
We did drive through San Francisco twice that day between our other destinations, so technically we saw some of it. Looked like a pretty cool city. Maybe next time we’ll ride a cable car or something. 🙂
All in all, it was a fabulous start to our journey. We went back to our hotel, grabbed some In-N-Out Burger just because you have to when you’re in California, and that was it for the first day.
Check back soon for a look at Part 2 of Cruisin’ California – wild waves, fabulous fish tacos and some beautiful views!
positively second 