July 1, 2015

Carmel by the Sea, except we can't see the sea, lots of fog. Luckily the temperatures by the coast are cool, in the 60's because our "cheapest hotel room in Carmel ($120) hs no AC!  Carmel is you're perfect little high end tourist town and nothing is cheap, our budget is getting stressed. We hit the road and travel the highway for an hour or so past Santa Cruz  and hit the coast road again.

A nice drive and not quite as crowded as the Big Sur. We turn off at the small town of Pescadero, grab some lunch and head into the hills. The road is beautiful, following a stream with huge pines and nothing but smooth turns and lots of hairpins, just great riding. After an hour or so we get back on the freeways and cross the really long San Mateo bridge from San Francisco to the East Bay, south of Oaakland.  The temps are back up into the 100's and we're happy to land at our friend Jill's sons home in San Ramon. Ben and Jill are up visiting Jill's son Jason, his wife Christine and their 2 kids, Justin and Ethan. They are gracious hosts and we happily take a day off to do a little R&R.