We had to check out by 11 am, but didn't have to get the rental car back to the airport until 9:30 pm for our 11:40 pm flight, so we had some time to kill. Our Michigan friends on the wine trolley suggested Goat Rock Beach for great views, so we decided that some driving was in order. We checked out of the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and headed out. But first, breakfast!
Once again, Jason's Yelp research paid off and we stopped by a 1950s-style diner in Petaluma, called Sax's Joint. No one was surprised when Shannon got eggs benedict, but this time it was with tri-tip! And the breakfast potatoes were served with sour cream and green onion. Jason had tri-tip and eggs. It was a LOT of good food and we didn't eat another real meal for 10 hours.
It was pretty warm as we headed to the coast on Highway 1. (Ridiculously, we both had Journey's "Faithfully" stuck in our heads, even though Steve Perry doesn't quite mention Highway 1.) At first, it seemed like every farm road around here and then we got near the coast and all bets were off. It was like a roller coater, literally. Hairpin turns that were seriously banked. I swear we pulled some Gs a few times. And there were so any bicyclists. I am not complaining...we were happy to share the road, but that just added to the stress: twists, turns, hills, you might fall off this cliff, and by the way, don't run over anyone. (Don't mind the smudges on the windshield.)
Goat Rock Beach was breathtakingly beautiful. but is one of the deadliest beaches in California, so they really don't recommend you go swimming. We watched the birds and took lots of photos. Shannon kept debating at least getting her feet wet, but then she was sure she'd be one of those people dragged under by a shadow wave and decided that listening to the waves was enough. We walked down closer to Goat Rock, which was a feat in tennis shoes on a pretty steep drop off to the water. (More on the sand later.) Jason found some old railroad tracks which were apparently used 100 years ago when there was a quarry there. We walked back to the car and Shannon emptied lots of sand from her tennis shoes.
Rumor has it that this is where they filmed the final scene of The Goonies.
We headed back to Highway 1 and stopped a few times to take photos. As we headed south and the deadly drop off was on Shannon's side of the car, she did some panicking and deep breathing here and there.
We stopped at a little farm-to-table café in a tiny town called Valley Ford to have milkshakes. (I just checked Wikipedia and the population is 0, so is it a town?) We still had lots of time to kill, so we decided to continue on Highway 1 to Sausalito. We couldn't imagine how 55 miles could take 2 hours to drive, but then we drove it. It was insane with the twists and turns and hills and drop-offs. Jason might have averaged 30 mph.
As we were driving, we whipped around one curve and saw what we thought was smoke. We were not prepared to outrun a CA wildfire...and then we realized that it was actually fog rolling in. We've never seen anything like it. Shannon kept turning around trying to take photos while reminding Jason to keep his eyes ON THE ROAD. Rather than looking to the right to see cliffs and imminent death, all we could see was a wall of white. It wasn't comforting.
By the time we got to Sausalito, we had outrun the fog. We parked and walked around and found a little hole-in-the-wall bar that we had to stop by called Smitty's. (It's a long story). We watched some college football and chatted with a couple from Ohio. We walked back to the car and looked to the east in time to see the fog coming up over the hill. It was almost frightening.
By the time we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, you couldn't even see the bridge.
The drive through San Fran to the airport felt almost apocalyptic. But by the time we got to the airport, there was no fog. We returned the car early and were ready to board three hours ahead of time, so we had a very late dinner, after Jason finally emptied the sand from his shoes. (Seriously, how did he walk around like that all day? And did the TSA agents laugh about him later?)
The flight was uneventful. We got to O'Hare 30 minutes early and neither of us had slept much. We are tired today, but that's ok. It was a fun trip.
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