I have a niggling discomfort about being in an earthquake zone and the Tsunami warning signs are always there to remind me.
When we hit the resort of Santa Cruz we encounter clear blue skies though it is still only reaching 20.Santa Cruz looks a nice place, we diverted down to the beach area which was extremely busy being Sunday. A stunning beach was full of families and volley ball players and along from the beach ran a fun fair which included an old wooden roller coaster (which apparently is shown in many films which are supposed to be Coney Island New York). There were massive queues for parking so we simply circled and left again but were very glad to have seen it. Leaving wasn't so simple and we had repeated abortive wrong turns with traffic jams as we tried to recover. Eventually, we were on the road North again and just as we left town there was a Safeway and a Subway both of which offered lunch but having only just got going I made the rash decision to drive past. Of course, the next 40 miles had nothing. We stopped for gas and bought a pitta sandwich from the garage shop which actually turned out to be very nice though it was around three o'clock by now.
We stayed on California Route 1 as much as we could being the Pacific Coastal Highway and eventually as we rounded a headland had our first sighting of the Golden Gate Bridge through the trees. The classic view with the cloud sitting on the towers so that only the span and legs can be seen.
We carried on into town following a tourist tour route and finally across to our hotel which we found easily and we were delighted with it's location less than a block back from the Wharf and close to much of what was happening. Parking was included on the premises which had been an attraction when booking.
After checking in, I sorted a walking route to Chinatown missing most of the hills and we headed off for our evening meal in a classic, "you're drinking green tea and paying cash", establishment with food that we really enjoyed.
We had an amble through the streets but apart from fairly tacky Chinese souvenir shops not much was going on. I spotted that if we went up hill 2 blocks we could intercept a cable car route though we had been warned it was difficult to get on en route as they were usually full. Within a couple of minutes one arrived and we got on. Inside, though you knew it was a San Fran' cable car, it didn't feel any different to being on a tram but a space came outside and we sat on the side with our legs out to the road being pushed together on the steep hills. It ended up a very enjoyable ride and we deleted our planned ride the next day from our itinerary as we didn't think a busy daytime ride would come close.
Statistics: Miles today: 134 miles; Miles so far: 483; Fuel today 12.318 gals; Fuel so far: 18.658 gals; States: California; Time Zone: Pacific(UK-8)
11:00-16:30
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