Friday, July 6: Through San Francisco to the Fongs

[Mom] Russian Gulch is a small campground, with a little river down the middle that flows into the ocean. We didn’t stick around to explore, since it took until noon to get the car semi-cleaned out from two long days of driving, wet and dirty clothes and gear sorted and packed back into the car and popup, and then break camp. We had to make sure everything we would need at the Fongs and Grace & Sean’s was accessible, since we aren’t planning to pop open the tent trailer again until Big Sur. That meant things like packing most of the refrig contents into the cooler – something of a challenge, but we managed.

Our clock broke somewhere along the drive to Harris Beach, and since none of us has a watch, we’re camping on “sun time.” Didn’t realize it was lunchtime until we were in the car and heading out. Cory and Niall knew it was time for a meal, though, and had a big snack as we were packing up. But Tynor and I were hungry, so we only drove for a half hour or so before stopping at a state park on the beach to make sandwiches – and play for few minutes, of course. Any time we find sand and water, the kids are out there playing in it!

More winding roads heading out of Mendocino along the coast, and then inland on 128 through the wind country. It got very hot – 98 degrees at one point – as we drove over the hills.

It cooled down to the 80’s by the time we got to San Rafael and stopped at McDonald’s for an ice cream snack. Nice to be back on straight highway by then, too, but lots more traffic. Construction too, just as there has been every day of the drive at some point. The windy road down the coast was full of bridge repairs. Must be a big push to get bridges fixed and replaced this summer.

Called the Fongs to give them a heads up about our approximate arrival time (we guessed 6:08 to 6:38 :-), then got back on the road. The kids were delighted to see the Golden Gate Bridge, after which we ended up taking the scenic tour through downtown San Francisco – because we were so excited upon seeing the bridge, we forgot to check our map for directions after that! Eventually we got on 280 South, meandered over to Redwood City, and then a few more crossed turns and we arrived at the Fongs!

[Tynor]So far we’ve had a pretty boring ride. Went past some wineries and a few small towns. The most interesting park was when we went into a forest and went on some windy roads that go around all of the big trees. Wow! Some of those are really big! Cory’s taking a little nap and Niall finished his “Wee Free Men” tape.
This morning, we did a lot of packing (De Ja’Vu?). Breakfast was the same old cereal and oatmeal. Turning around at the end of the road in the state park was kinda interesting because there wasn’t very much room to turn around anyway plus we had our trailer and it is hard to do 3-point turns with a trailer.

P.S. Just noticed this morning that there's a big tear in the surface of the car, below the driver's side sliding door. Ouch! :-( Am guessing it happened sometime during my attempts to squeeze the popup into that itty-bitty spot at Harris Beach.