Out and Back

Monday finds us driving north up the coast on Highway 1. It is a windy, narrow road with beautiful views around each turn; certainly not a road for a motorhome. It is Columbus Day today; it may be a holiday for some ???

Our luggage has increased! We came over with 3 suitcases and one carry on; we now have 5 suitcases and 2 carry ons. We are able to increase the number of carry ons if we want, to 2 each within the airfares we have with Air NZ. We also have the option of  increasing our bag allowance online for $70 a bag.
With our increased number of bags we have had to rent a larger vehicle! We have a Premium SUV, a Ford Expedition, about the same size of the vehicle we rented for our trip to Las Vegas when the kids were here.

It is very comfortable and a nice way to tour the coast and the wine region of Napa Valley which is where we are heading.

The weather is absolutely perfect! It is said to be sunny and warm, with cool mornings, for the rest of the week. How lucky are we!!

Lunch in Bodega Bay is a crab roll; it is delicious.
We have previously stayed here and thought we might do so again - a bit of nostalgia. But it is such a glorious afternoon that we decide to continue further. We finish up in Windsor.

Even though the weather is more like summer, the trees are certainly marching on to fall. Changing colours are everywhere; the slightest breeze brings leaves floating to the
ground. So we are experiencing our second fall although without the brilliant colours that we saw on the east coast last year.

On Tuesday we continue on to Napa Valley; a stunningly beautiful drive. Vineyards spread out for miles and miles.

We stop in St Helena for lunch. Both in need of a haircut we find a barber and a hair salon on Main Street. By 3pm we are good to go!

St Helena is a nice town; we decide to stay the night, we find a motel. How good it is to stop and enjoy just being here.

Our drive into San Francisco on Wednesday is fairly slow - we only have about 75 miles to go but are held up at the Bay Bridge. It doesn't matter. We have all the time in the world. We are booked into a hotel in South San Francisco and can't check in until 2pm. Another beautiful day for us to continue our drive through Napa Valley.

There are 17 lanes of traffic approaching the toll plaza (and that's going one way!)
The views from the bridge are wonderful with such a lovely clear day. We drive across the new East Span which opened on 2 September this year. Said to have cost over $6.5 billion the new part is the world's widest bridge.

Of course, once through the toll plaza, the number of lanes reduces but it still a big bridge by any stretch of the imagination!