Sharks, ripcurrents, and Ferraris, oh my!

Well, maybe it was the talking about my job or mentioning the word vagina that had no one commenting on the last post...I don't really know, but we'll keep blogging away over here, trying to keep people we love updated on our lives.

Dan's parents were just here for a short visit - I wish it could have been longer, because I had to work while they were here during the week, and it's such a long trip to make. Either way, I think they had a good time. It was nice to see some faces from home! They got in on Wednesday morning, and their flight on Virgin America was not so great. The inflight stuff (TV and the like) wasn't working properly, and they go delayed for over an hour in San Jose due to high winds in San Francisco...so not so great. Thursday, Dan took them to Sausalito for the afternoon - they got to ride the ferry, I'm a little jealous. They took great pictures, but I'll let him blog about that on his own. Friday, everyone just hung around Berkeley and spent some time together before we had to take them to the airport on Saturday morning! Like I said, quick visit! But we will be seeing them again in about a month for Thanksgiving (we're going to Nashville, where Dan's brother, sister-in-law and two nephews live).


So, since we rented a car for the morning to take them to SFO, and since we were already there we decided to get the car all day and just do something fun. We didn't have any plans, just kind of went where the wind took us. It was SUCH a gorgeous day, clear blue skies and it was warm and sunny, we couldn't have had better luck.

I decided I wanted to drive all the way over the Golden Gate Bridge, since I've never actually been all the way across it. Everytime I've been, my tolerance for cold and wind has only gotten me to the first tower before I peace out and turn back. So, we drove across and then stopped on the other side to look back. Hey - did I mention that it was a REALLY nice day? We also went to the monument for the Lone Soldier, which is dedicated to every soldier who has gone out to sea past the Golden Gate Bridge. It's very nice - worthy of recognition like any of the DC monuments. Made me think of my grandfather, and my uncle who were both in the Navy.












So we kept driving north, and stopped off in Sausalito to drive around and see what Dan and his parents had seen earlier in the week. It's a really nice little town, about 8 miles from San Fran, but basically is the town at the other end of the Golden Gate Bridge. It has a huge marina, and has nice shopping and cafes and bed and breakfasts and the like. I'm supposed to let Dan talk about it, so anyway. After exploring a little, we got back on the road, passed a sign for Stinson Beach which sounded lovely, so decided to go that way. Mmmm k, let me just say that it takes quite a while to get there, down extremely windy roads but it's incredibly worth the effort. After exiting the freeway, you drive most of the way through forests of eucalyptus trees, which smell amazing and occasionally peek out over views of the bay and sometimes of the city skyline behind you. But, when you finally do reach the beach, it feels like a totally new world. It kind of pops up out of nowhere, just a teeny little town built into a cove on the shoreline.







The sign said that it has a population of 486...and I believe them. We found 3 restaurants, a market, a motel, a book store (my new favorite bookstore!! amazing.), a couple shops, a park, a place to rent beach stuff...and houses. That's about all there is. We pulled off at one of the restaurants, because we were, you know, hungry. Honestly, we were expecting burgers and fries and ended up eating some of the best food I've had here. Don't you love it when restaurants surprise you? We had carelized banana stuffed french toast and an Asian pear salad and three cheese mac and cheese. Not what I was expecting in a town of 486 people!


Anyway, we wandered around, went to the bookstore which was, as I previously mentioned, pretty amazing, and then we went to the beach. It's really nice, lots of sand, unfortunately lots of children flinging the sand into my eyes, but it was too nice out to really be upset. Plus their parents were there. Dan wants you to know that he did go and stick a hand into the water, and so now, he's been in the Pacific Ocean. Just in case, I don't know, you're keeping a list of where Dan has yet to swim.





On our way out, I finally took the time to read the sign that says, hey, you might not want to swim here because A) lots of ripcurrents, and those are bad and B) great white sharks swim here and someone got attacked in six feet of water. SWEET. Talk about ideal beach getaway.







Anyway, so I'm trying to determine why on earth people would swim there, when Dan is distracted but what we think is a car show in the parking lot. Ridiculous amounts of wealth on display! Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and just one Porsche. So Dan goes over to talk to them, and take pictures to send to Franklin (seriously) and he ends up discovering that no, while the cars are out and the owners are showing off the engines and people are taking pictures, this is not a car show. This is people, who just know each other and know that they all own ridiculous (sorry Franklin) cars, and decided to all get together and go for a Saturday drive. OK. So, there were at least 25 cars there, and several of them are the same (see photo) but maybe I missed how people interact when they all are in seperate cars? Anyway, they also told Dan that when driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, a police car caught up to them and they got an unofficial police escort all the way down the freeway. So, Dan and I thought we should try to get together everyone in the area who uses Flexcar and Zipcar and do the same. No? Come on, you would totally take pictures of that.