California sunset

As our trip draws to a close, the last full day in California was one of repairs, travel and exhaustion. After a failed attempt to get up this AM to walk the bridge (besides it was foggy), I spent a big part of the morning getting the battery in Ja'Nene's car replaced. She had been kind enough to let MK and I borrow it, and to get it home, I had to install a new one since the old one had died. It was an adventure, and not really the kind I mind. I was able to find the store, get there, get the battery, get back and replace it in pretty good time.

After all that, Mary Kathryn and I got on the road, for what figured to be a pretty laid back trip to Sacramento. We drove across the penisula to the Pacific, which was an incredibly long trip. For the record, it is a damn long way from Union Square to the ocean, but worth it. MK and I walked along the cliffs by Cliff Side, a restaurant built on the base of an old hotel on the coast. While she had her shoes stolen, it was fun being on the ocean, in the cool fog, and seeing the cold waves crashing along the rocks...

Afterwards, we kept driving up the coast so I could get a couple new perspectives on the bridge, and I was blessed by what I was able to capture. The south viewing areas were a treat, but COLD and in the middle of fog. This picture shows well how the wind and clouds were wrapping arounds the hills, and made getting the pics a bit more of an adventure. But were were both prepared for it, and eventually MK did not join me since she cut her foot a little while climbing on the cliffs...

We drove on to Sacramento, with a brief stop in Mill Valley for Taco Bell for the daughter and then along the northern bay to head back. Tonight we are at Ja'Nene and Patrick's house, having just returned from seeing A-Team, and about to eat dinner. They have been super hosts and we have both enjoyed their company greatly. The last photo is one I took while hanging out the passenger window on Patrick's Jeep of the sun setting toward the Pacific. Polk was right -- California and the west were our destiny, and I believe mine as well.