Day 14: Bakersfield to San Francisco to Bodega Bay, CA

Day 14, Saturday: Bakersfield to San Francisco to Bodega Bay

KM start:161,250 Km

Trip Meter: 4,793 km

Time Driven: 9am - 5pm

We woke up around 8am and made a leisurely breakfast and packed up. We wanted to get on the road to drive through San Francisco on our way to Bodega Bay, CA. 

We woke up BOILING...in fact we were up throughout the night because it was so hot. Little did we know that by the time we curled up in our tent in Bodega Bay we'd be freezing! Yikes. Crazy change. 

The drive was beautiful. 

Oh I forgot to mention...on the drive from the Grand Canyon we drove through the Mojave Dessert and National Preserve which was bleak and beautiful and drove through Hinkley, California, the home setting of the movie "Erin Brokovich". It looked just like the movie. In fact I had just been watching that movie this summer and as we drove through this area I thought, this looks just like where Erin Brokovich took place, not knowing that Hinkley was in California. I love that movie, so I found that all pretty cool. 

Alright, back to the beauty.

And in honor of Nancy with Morgan-Hill design, downtown Morgan Hill.

And while that's not the same tree as in her logo, there's still a tree nearby!

We drove through San Jose, which was pretty also.

And we stopped there for lunch - we were hungry and ready for restaurant food after a few days of camp dinners and on the road sandwiches. 

Of course, Olive Garden was calling to us

$6.99 for all you can eat Breadsticks, Soup and Salad?

Yes, please!

I was happy.

Paul was even happier.

And not in the mood for a photo...so it's just me :)

This sign made us think of home

And we arrived in San Fran! 

It was cold.

Cold and windy and foggy.

Classic San Francisco...but also, beautiful.

Classic row houses

We drove through some side streets towards downtown and towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

So picturesque.

And there's the bridge through the Fog - again classic.

Feels just like Full House!

The view of San Fran after we crossed over.

Love.

Also it reminded me of Vancouver.

Oh the names! Right out of a Danielle Steel novel.

Because many of her novels take place in San Fran...

I know she doesn't have a claim to the area but it still makes me think of her

Then we left the area and headed out towards Bodega Bay.

It was beautiful.

The fog was rolling in here as well, which made for even more beauty

Then we noticed it getting darker and more foggy...

And the only cars we saw were leaving the area. Yikes.

But in the end we found a beautiful wintery seaside town, reminiscent of Ucluelet or Tofino and we loved it. 

And since it was Saturday night, we also found it entirely tricky to find camping!

Though our drive around the bay and the different spits of land to the different camping spots sure was beautiful - so we didn't mind too much

Especially once we made our way to Bodega Dunnes and found out that though their sign said full, they in fact had 4 camping spots available for the night - wahoo!

We claimed ours happily, despite the $34 price tag for one night faaaar from the bathrooms.

I set up for dinner while Paul set up the tent

I used one of Carol's soup mixes to whip up some tasty corn chowder - easy and warm and hearty.

Also I added cheese buns because we were hungry!

It was a perfect night - after dinner and the washing up, we packed everything into the handy little side cabinet that they provided and then watched the stars above on our camping chairs with a fire that Paul made. It was heavenly.