Reflections on Traveling

My Friday Fave Fives this week are focused on the short trip we took to San Francisco this week.  It was a week filled with fun experiences and many hours spent sitting in our car.  If you want to know more about Friday Fave Five, check out this link to Susanne's blog.

1.  time spent with my family
          We met up with The New Boy, his mama and the Grad Student, all of us converging at the same time in one spot on this planet although for different reasons.  Spending even a few days with our grandson (and two of our children) gives us great joy!

2.  a random meeting with someone who reads my blog
          We wandered in to a shop and the clerk commented on my felted bag.  One thing led to another and I discovered that wow!  she's a knitter, and she reads my blog!  What fun randomness!

3.  revisiting San Francisco

          When I was a child, my family drove from Oregon to San Francisco every summer.  I have so many memories of that city which I considered the most exciting and exotic place in the world, or at least my little world.  The Golden Gate Bridge

 San Francisco Zoo, Ghirardelli Square

 cable cars, hills and more hills, houses jammed up against each other with NO space between, Presidio of San Francisco, Golden Gate Park.  What fun we had sharing some of those places with The New Boy and his mama.

4.  Half Moon Bay

          Neither of us had ever been to Half Moon Bay even though it is very close to San Francisco and part of the peninsula on the Pacific Coast side of San Francisco.  On a whim, we decided to drive over the hills and visit that famous little seaside town.  We walked along Main Street, wandered in to the absolutely amazing and delightful  Fengari yarn shop and chatted with Ann the owner for a few minutes, stopped for a bowl of soup and a coffee at a local cafe, and ended up at the top of the cliff overlooking the local beach.  In typical Coastal California June Gloom weather, it was windy, gray and misty, so we didn't stay long.

5.  driving along the Central California Coast

          A seven hour drive each way along Hwy 101 allows for extended periods to spend gazing at the wonderful and beautiful California scenery.  We drove along the Pacific Coast beaches, through the coastal hills covered with live oak trees and orange poppies.  Watching the hills, dotted with horses and cows or covered with vineyards, roll past reminded me what an incredible state I live in--one that extends for almost nine hundred miles north to south, encompasses some of the most majestic scenery in the world, and is home to people living on citrus or cattle ranches, in small sleepy towns nestled in the golden foothills, and huge crowded, bustling cities.

How was your week?