After a warm breakfast of waffles and coffee at the Bodega Bay Inn, we were off again under gray skies and promise of sunshine in the distance.  We enjoyed more of Highway 1 and the beautiful scenery.  We wound our way through Point Reyes and its surrounding protected area.   At one point, we made a wrong turn and found ourselves riding through California cattle country.  It was interesting to see cattle ranches like you might see in the mid-west and then, planted in their front lawn, a palm tree.  Something in this picture does not quite belong . . .

We managed to navigate back to Highway 1 and, in doing so, passed the United States Coast Goard training centre.  Now, that’s an impressive complex and extremely well-protected.  It is now part of the Homeland Security initiative so it is probably a lot more secure that it used to be.  We did not stop and take a picture just in case it made us look suspicious.  The guards did not look like “rent-a-cops.”  These guys were the real deal!

Before we knew it, we were navigating the (in)famous hair pin turns, hills and valleys of the Highway 1 approach to San Francisco.  Just when we thought Highway 1 could not get any more technical, it went up to a whole new level of difficulty.  Jeremy, as always, impressed me with his skill and his calmness.  I closed my eyes several times and held on tight.  Good thing I was not driving!  I honestly don’t know if I could have done this stretch.  We hope Jeremy’s helmet cam captured most of this part of the ride.  And maybe the crazy sports bike rider with no license plate that was passing cars and other motorcyclists over the double line.  It is all double line through this stretch of Highway 1 for a reason.  And there may have been a reason this guy did not have a license plate.  Maybe he lost his license because of this kind of insanity a long time ago.

When things began to level off, we were in San Francisco proper.  The next milestone was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.  What an amazing piece of engineering!  Photos and film do not capture the sheer size of this bridge.  You have to cross it to really experience it.

We got caught in a little big city traffic on the way through San Francisco, but we have been in much worse.  Usually it is much, much hotter too when we get caught in traffic.  Before we knew it we were through San Francisco and driving through its various suburbs.  We stopped for lunch in Pacifica at the pier at an ocean-side canteena called Chit Chat.  It took a very long time, but we eventually got our barbeque hamburgers.  Definitely do not stop here if you are in a hurry!

After Pacifica, Highway 1 straightened out and it was a nice relaxing ride all the way to Carmel.  We drove through agricultural land that included pumpkins, artichokes, and, maybe broccoli.  It smelled like broccoli but maybe it was something else.  There were a lot of roadside stands and we could not believe the prices.  You could get 10 grapefruits or 10 artichokes for $1.00.  We definitely pay a lot for shipping this produce to Canada, don’t we?

Although our GPS took us on a creative route into Carmel, we finally found main street.  Oddly enough, the Best Western Bay Side Inn that we had picked for the evening, did not accept pets.  Every Best Western we have stayed at so far has allowed pets but the Best Western in one of the top ten “pet-friendly” cities in the United States had a no pet policy.  Go figure?  Anyway, we wandered around a little and found something much, much better – Svendsgaard’s Inn.  They had a room for all of us, one of their best, with a fireplace and little kitchen.   Our host informed us that our timing was good.  Apparently, yesterday was the annual “Poodle Parade” in Carmel and there would not have been a pet-friendly room available for us anywhere in town if we had been a day earlier.  There were 360 poodles in the parade this year too!  I guess, for once, our timing was bang on.  And really, it is only because we stayed an extra day in Lincoln City too.  I found the website for the Carmel “Poodle Parade,” but there are no photos yet from this year:

http://poodleday.com/

After settling in to the hotel and finding a decent map for downtown Carmel (none of the roads are straight and you can get lost pretty easy), we headed out to try why one the pet-friendly restaurants that Carmel is famous for among dog-lovers.  We decided to try Jack London’s Grill and Taproom.  We walked past it twice before we actually saw the sign.  There are so many little courtyards everywhere and some of the businesses are tucked in pretty deep.  The host gave us a nice little table on the courtyard patio under the Christmas tree.  Is it not a Christmas tree if it has Christmas lights?  It was so nice to be out for dinner and to have our dog so welcome too.  The offered her treats, surprise, surprise.  And made sure she had water too.  Excellent service for all of us and excellent food.  Jeremy tried their Caliente Burger with jalapenos and jack cheese and I, after seeing all those artichoke vendors along Highway 1, their Artichoke Fettucini.  Yum yet again!  We had to roll ourselves back to the hotel, but thankfully it was slightly downhill.

We are staying on another day in Carmel, so we will post some more photos from playing tourist tomorrow.