San Francisco

After Santa Cruz, we had another interesting drive through another major metropolitan area to get past.  I hate driving in big cities.  Everybody's in such a big hurry, traffic often backs up long before your exit and makes you have to cram in at the last minute, stop and go, people on their cell phones.  Yuck.  Boo hoo for me, right?  We skirted the San Francisco area as much as possible, going east through Oakland before crossing back over to I-5 in Sausalito.  Once we got back on I-5, everything was gravy.  We stayed just north of the bay area in Novato, CA.  It's a cool little town with all the comforts of home, but none of the mayhem of LA or San Francisco.  During our usual 3 day stay, we took the ferry from Sausalito over to the San Francisco waterfront.  We had intended to ride a cable car, but on a sunny Sunday afternoon, it was more like the line for Space Mountain at Disney.  We saw a cable car at least, but didn't ride one.  The waterfront area by Fisherman's Wharf was packed with activity, music, food, craziness.  There was a "pride" event in town as well, so that's how it goes.  Overall, it was windy, cold, loud, crowded and expensive.  Only a couple pictures...

Alcatraz from the ferry