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Today, the goal was to see the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and then make it to Madera_CA.

I spent most of the day traveling down highway 1 on the California coast and it was fantastic. There were huge cliffs leading down to the ocean just like in Maui (although in fairness Maui was a bit more dramatic). Highway 1 was also a lot narrower and winding than I expected, however driving on the Hana Highway in Hawaii had prepared me very well.

I stopped at a few beach stops along the way and one of them by chance had a sign up that said it was one of the most dangerous beaches in California (yet there were plenty of people there). According to the sign there was a steep drop off and the water current comes in such a way to create a circular churn at the bottom which could trap someone underwater.

I made it to the Golden Gate Bridge, and luckily I pulled off the freeway just in time to get to the park that sits just above the bridge giving a perfect vantage point of both the bridge and Alcatraz. I had planned on eating in San Francisco, however sometimes Foodio54 has problems making recommendations in big cities and I couldn’t get it to work. While negotiating traffic in the city I think I thought up a solution for this issue. I’ve been using kayak.com to reserve a lot of my hotels and it brings back a few results right away and then adds more as it finds them. I think this type of a solution would work well for us.

Instead of San Francisco I had Foodio54 give me recommendations for Stockton and it sent me to Chef Chu’s. I walked in and the first thing I noticed was that there were a ton of people in there especially considering that the place wasn’t all that big. They had two parties of 10-15 people each and then another table of two. I eat a lot of Chinese food, however I almost always order chicken chow mein or general tso’s chicken. Chef Chu’s did not have general tso’s chicken on the menu and I already had chicken chow mein in Wisconsin, so I decided to try something different and ordered a roast duck (half) and wonton soup. When she brought out the soup it was in an enormous bowl, and then came a huge order of duck. I don’t eat a lot of duck, but this was very good, it was kind of like chicken, but with a very distinct taste.

Tomorrow the plan is to hike up to the half dome in Yosemite National Park (because I saw it on the Travel Channel and it looked like fun). However, there is a chance for scattered thunderstorms. The half dome itself requires you to climb up exposed metal cables, so obviously that’s not a great idea if there is any lightning, so I may need to come up with another plan, we’ll see tomorrow how the weather is. I bought a poncho in Montana, so if isn’t just raining I’ll go, but if there is also lightning I may need to find something else to do.

Tags: Big Road Trip