Coming Home with a Detour in San Francisco

Some of the biggest waves in the world call the north end of this bay home. When the winter weather is pulsing, it's not uncommon to see 60 foot waves. The largest wave every surfed here was a 68 foot monster by Carlos Burle in 2016.

Courtesy of Shalom Jacovitz via Wikimedia

Mavericks is a legendary beach with a great break but it's not pumping so hard today. Still, I just want to drive over there to show Tim where it is.

It's a windy bit of driving through small streets in the industrial section of Half Moon Bay. We find the parking lot where it's another quarter mile or so of walking to the beach. We'll leave it there for another day. 

It's time for one more meal before we head home so we head to Sam's Chowder House, a very popular seafood spot halfway between Mavericks and downtown Half Moon Bay.

The restaurant opens at 11:30. It's 11:15 and there's already a lineup at the door to get in. We are lucky to get the last handicapped parking spot in the lot.

Once opening time passes, it's a quick process to get our table and order. Tim and Letty share a large bowl of chowder and a plate of calamari. Me...the landlubber...gets a cheeseburger and fries.

It's good but maybe not so good as to warrant such a big crowd that always shows up. Service was excellent, however.

It's time to drive home and Letty has had one request for the next time we're in the Bay Area. 

She is a devoted baker of sourdough bread, always looking for ways to refine and improve her loaves. I think they're perfect just the way they are but she's not so sure.

Tartine, a chain of bakeries based out of San Francisco, is generally acknowledged to make the best sourdough of all. Letty wants to stop by and pick one of their loaves up to compare to hers.

From Half Moon Bay, it's about half an hour's driving to get to San Francisco. The evolution from rural coast side to crowded, urban city takes place at an accelerated rate as we drive up highway 1, through the tunnels, into Pacifica, Daly City, and the crowded hills of the city.

We find the bakery on the corner of 18th and Guerrero. I drop Letty off and plan on circling the block until she's done because parking in this none-too-car-friendly city is very difficult to find.

One lap of the busy block and, low and behold, someone pulls out so I squeeze our big van into a tiny little spot a couple of doors down from Tartine.

Soon, Letty is back with her bread and a few desserts she grabbed and it's back on the road, crossing the five mile expanse of the Oakland Bay Bridge to the freeways of the east bay. Heading through Berkely, Pittsburg, and Antioch, it's not too much longer until we've finally left the hectic traffic of the Bay Area behind and are on the familiar, easy driving country roads of the Central Valley heading home.

When we get back, we pull out the bread and taste. The verdict? The crust tastes a little burnt and the airy bread between is really no match for my wife's tasty sourdough.

The desserts were very good, though.

Darryl Musick

Copyright 2021 - All Rights Reserved

Beating the Heat in Half Moon Bay, California

Memorial Day has just passed, the tourists are gone, our town has gone back to it's normal mode except that it's bloody hot. 105 degrees is the predicted high for a couple of days and I just don't want to deal with the heat right now.

Since the holiday weekend, and its high hotel rates have passed, I’m wondering if we can take a quick getaway to the 70 degree confines of the Northern California coast. A quick search finds a $144 room at the Half Moon Bay Lodge, a relatively short 2 hour drive from home.

I make the reservation and off we go.

While it was a scary place half a century ago when the Rolling Stones played an ill-fated free concert there, today the Altamont Pass concerns me more with the traffic and unecessarily brave drivers on the freeway that crosses it.

I see the old speedway that hosted the concert to the left while before me the 580 merges into Interstate 235, which I'm driving on. This is the only crossing to the Bay Area for many miles and it makes for a harrowing bottleneck with tens of thousands of commuters doing their best to hurry to their jobs on the other side.

It's stressful driving anytime and worse when the traffic is heavy. Once past the interchange, it lightens up a bit with some occasional slowdowns until we get to highway 92 in Hayward, where we turn west to cross the San Mateo Bridge. At seven miles, it's the longest bridge in California.

Staying in highway 92, it's only another 20 minutes over the hills to the rural beachfront community of Half Moon Bay. 20 minutes but a million metaphoric miles from the urban sprawl that we just left.

It's just before noon when we arrive. My plan is to park at the hotel...the Half Moon Bay Lodge...have lunch at the restaurant next door, then check in. I go to the lobby to let them know I have a reservation and to get their OK to leave my car there while we eat. They say the room is ready, so it I want I could just check in now.

Works for me. We get our keycards and head over to Joe's, an Italian restaurant, where we eat a late breakfast of omelets, pancakes, bacon, and eggs.

The room at the hotel is a standard double-queen room but with wider doors that work for the wheelchair. The inn does have a double-queen room with a roll-in shower but it was unavailable. I gave Tim a shower before we left and that should hold us over until we get back home tomorrow.

The room faces a golf course and a patio with nice views awaits us for later.

After dropping off our bags in the room, we head north a couple of miles to Poplar Beach. Parking at the small lot here is $10, or free if you have a handcapped plate or placard. We're here to hike the Coastal Trail, an accessible path that winds for miles along the cliffs and beaches of this bay, from the golf course on the south end to Maverick's beach on the north.

Our new thing to do on trips is to take a long walk or hike to explore our destination. Today, we'll start at Poplar Beach...actually, bluff, as we're on top of the cliffs...hike south to the Wavecrest nature preserve, then double back and go north to Francis Beach.

While, back in Amador County, the temperature is supposed to hit triple digits, today the predicted high here is 57 degrees. It's pants and sweater weather for us as we start our walk.

The path is smooth, paved, and set back from the top of the cliff by several feet so it's safe.

A lot of wildflowers are in bloom today, with a nice colorful contrast to the brown dirt and the crashing waves beyond.

A fenced-off field of goats are to our left, keeping the grass mowed.

Signs tell us not to touch the electrified fence.

Soon, we approach a gulch where we have to detour a couple of hundred yards inland to cross a bridge. Remains of an older bridge closer to the ocean tells us that this is a relatively new route.

We've crossed into the Wavecrest preserve and a sign tells us that the next third of a mile is a birdwatcher's paradise. We don't see too many birds, however, but the winding path across this meadow is very pretty.

At the other side, we turn around and head back. At the parking lot, we're getting a bit warm so we ditch the sweaters in our car before we continue.

The next section is full of wildflowers along the fairly featureless bluff top.

We make it to Francis Beach where we rest on a picnic table watching a gull trying to fend off ravens and other gulls to keep possession of a broken open watermelon he found. He won and was able to gorge on the melon all by himself.

Four and a half miles later, we're back at the car and head to nearby downtown to check out the shops and do a little more strolling.

Tim and I don't find too much to our fancy but Letty spends some time in a yarn shop and a kitchen shop we found.

At the end of downtown is a century-plus old bridge that crosses a very lush creek. We cross over then, again, to the other side of the street to walk back. We'll call it a day, still full from our brunch, where we'll get some wine and snacks to tide us over in our hotel room until tomorrow.

Darryl Musick

Copyright 2021 - All Rights Reserved