San Rafael CA

Looking at the images from yesterday I can truly say that they will get better, maybe not by much until I get to the Redwoods tomorrow but they should be a little bit better today.

Today I left Barstow headed north with the ultimate destination of the Embassy Suites in San Rafael. Getting here was fun as once I got north of Bakersfield I was in an area I had not traveled in before; actually the furthest north I’ve been in California has been Carmel and Monterrey (I’m not counting the times I traveled through SFO airport) so this is all new to me.

Traveling north on CA58 takes you through Tehachapi and what’s neat about that is the windmills dotting the hillside along the way.

Not sure how many will catch this reference but I’ll give it a try anyway. Still on the 58 just a couple miles past all the windmills is a place on the right side of the road (East?) that I’ve seen before as we driven this same route going to the Sequoia’s as well as Carmel. This time I had our little point-n-shoot ready. While I’m not sure what purpose it serves it nevertheless reminds me of a structure right out of Mad Max. Go figure…

The cloud coverage was much like driving underneath a layer of cotton. Guess you had to be there …

I finally reach the 5 after I got north of Bakersfield then on to the 580 into San Francisco where the drivers are nuts! I had thought I’d go over the Bay Bridge just to say I did however when I got to the turn off the traffic was stopped for what looked like miles and this is mid-afternoon on a Saturday. I decided to follow my GPS and head right into San Rafael crossing a double decker bridge (at least that was my impression) to arrive safely at the hotel in San Rafael.

What’s next? I leave here in the morning and plan on hugging the coast as much as I can on my way to Crescent City where I hang my hat till next weekend; plenty of time for landscapes in the Redwoods as well as along the coast.

Thanks for letting me share.

don

by the way - I've decided not to post any more updates till I can share either coastal or redwood images - maybe Tuesday at the latest.