Even a visit to Target can be fun with the right company..
We drove straight to Elaines house in Los Gatos (a fellow Travato owner who offered up her driveway on FB.) We met her briefly as she had a meeting to go to, and we hung out awhile, and then ran some errands around town. We got dinner at her recommendation at Andalays in the upscale little downtown of Los Gatos. We also each had an awesome cupcake from the “the icing on the cake”, and Aly bought a romper.
I checked out an art gallery and we roamed around town a bit.
We slept in the van in her driveway.
FRIDAY July 13th
We got up and chatted with Elaine for awhile, and then took off to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We spent a couple hours there, and Aly rode a bunch of amusement park rides. Nice fun atmosphere. Kind of old fashioned. Right on the ocean; Sunny days, freindly people – very interesting looking selection of junk food (fries twinkies and oreos, Gyros, Craft Beers, etc etc).
The trees we were looking at yesterday were THREE TIMES taller than this ride:
Got our first glimpse of the Pacific
We decided to ride up the coast to San Francisco
Entering San Francisco after a relaxing drive along the coast is a bit of a change.. Jennifer relinquished the drivers seat pretty quickly.
In San Francisco we drove around Chinatown for over an hour looking for parking until someone suggested parking down by the wharf, which we did, and then we walked the mile or so back to Chinatown – got dinner (meh), and walked back. Chinatown (and S.F. In general) was INSANE. There were thousands of tourists, and the cool folks with their hot cars and high end clothes, street musicians, and beggars, homeless and the privileged, Business people, blue collar workers fixing the roads and making their deliveries. Buildings, construction, filth, graffiti, and merchandise for sale in every direction you look. My Travato friends on Facebook who live in the area are welcoming us to the City and beaming with pride (which is wonderful for them), but I am doing my best not to express how much disdain I have for City life these days. There is some fast moving thrill – but it gets old very fast for me lately – like within an hour or so. I use to think I might like living right downtown in a busy area like this, but at this point in my life, It’s hard to imagine myself ever living in a city again.
Chinatown
We fit right in..
” If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair”; a nice “gentle” park, with musicians, frisbees, and relaxed folk among the hub bub surrounding them.
We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge (which was pretty much fogged in), and stayed at the Vista overlook just over the bridge. There were a dozen other camper vans and RV’s spending the night there (there is an 8 hour parking limit). The bridge and the bay were fogged in so there wasn’t much of a view, and the constant hum and buzz of traffic going by on the highway didn’t make for the best sleeping – but we all managed to do pretty good after another long day of driving and walking.
This was out Boondocking spot, overlooking the Beautiful Golden Gate Bridge… (It’s down there, believe me)
