July 7, 2010 - Tonight I am staying at the Candlestick RV Park in San Francisco. It's in Candlestick Park. I hadn't planned to stop in San Francisco tonight, but I spent so much time at Fort Funston watching the hang-gliders this evening, that I decided not to try to go any further tonight.
I ate lunch at Sam's Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. I had to try their lobster rolls, voted one of the top five sandwiches in America in 2007. And they were very good - loaded with lobster.
I took a walk at Pillar Point after lunch. I didn't find a dead sea lion, which was good. I hope that means he wasn't sick, just resting, and went on about his business. They say the ocean is ever-changing, which is true. A corollary is that you can't ever go back to the same seashore again - it's always different. This time the tide was lower, there were no surfers, there were no godwits or other shorebirds, the wood swallows weren't following me around, there were fewer songbirds, the waves weren't as high, it wasn't as overcast, there were more people, the piles of kelp on the shore were higher. A local told me that, although there is always some kelp on the beach, there is a lot more now than usual. I'm assuming it's from the rough seas they had a couple weeks ago, but I don't really know. I had a pleasant walk to, and on, the beach, for sure, but it was a whole different experience from yesterday. I did see some snowy white egrets, a great blue heron, some juvenile geese, and a couple other birds I'm still trying to identify [including the one above, though I think it might be a juvenile white-crowned sparrow].
I love being in a section of the country that is so dog-friendly. You see dogs everywhere. The restaurant I ate lunch at even advertises that they have a "dog-friendly patio" on its website.
The drive up Highway 1, up and along the coast, to San Francisco, was impressive. Maybe not quite as spectacular as the drive from Monterey to Big Sur, but, still, definitely majestic. I stopped briefly at beautiful Montara Beach State Park [photo on right]. I drove through Pacifica for the first time.
I had dinner at the Cliff House, on the coast, in San Francisco, which was one of my favorite places from my last trip to California. Spectacular views, as the restaurant sits right on the cliff. They've remodeled since I was here last, and it looks like a brand new, upscale place.
Then I drove to Fort Funston to watch the hang-gliders. Exhilerating. Do you ever dream that you can fly, floating over towns and people far below? What if it could come true? Hang-gliding seems to me like it's almost flying. Takes my breath away just to watch them. The wind was so strong that the windsock was straight out - which means 30-some mph. So they didn't have to run off the cliff to get going, they just stepped off! I saw one glider who had some kind of booster and he went really fast. I loved watching them all.
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