After WWDC finished, we drove back to San Francisco, where we once again stayed with Paul, a friend of Peter¥s. On our way from San Jose, we stopped at Twin Peaks to enjoy the view of downtown San Francisco at night. It was darn cold up there.
We planned to get up real early today and this time we got the sunrise right. However, taking our time with breakfast we managed to delay our departure to about 9 am and were rewarded with a Golden Gate in the Mist.
Our route takes us up Highway 1. From the road, the view to the ocean is blocked because of all the mist. Before we can get frustrated, we catch some breathtaking views from the scenery with the mist. Unfortunately, a camera can not capture that quite accurately.
We reach the Pacific, and sure enough, there is a beach to go to.
Peter seems to have won against the Pacific, although I am not quite entirely sure at what game, because later, Peters shorts are wet.
After a while our route starts to match Peter¥s trip from 1997. So, we get to celebrate the "Second Tri-Annual Sandwich Run": Where Peter bought a Sandwich we buy a sandwich. Where Peter got ice cream, we get ice cream.
The California Coast is beautiful. Although Peter claims that the Oregon coast will be even better, I still take pictures just in case.
We take a short detour to see the lighthouse at Point Arena.
Mendocino is a really nice place. At the seaside, there are rock formations that inspire great pictures. A QuickTime VR is in the works.
There is a bridge of rock. We went on top and some nice guy took our picture. It is quite scary to look down.
The same bridge from the sea:
The rocks have real interesting patterns. I took one for my brother Achim who wants to build a materials database.
On our way, we meet Reverend Hans. This guy is amazing: 110,000 miles on his bike. On the road since 1993. A reverend of the Church of the web... Born 1956 in Bad Tˆlz (southern Germany) he has crossed the United States 9 times already. He is on a mission from god.
In Fort Bragg, a historical Railroad crosses our way.
Our destination for today is the avenue of the giants, a forest with giant redwoods. Once we leave the coast, the djungle catches up.
At the roadside we see lots of farns. Some of them look blurry, don¥t you think?
When we reach the Avenue of the Giants, the dawn is already coming. That gives us a great experience, because in a Redwoods forrest, it is a lot darker anyways.
Of course, there are the usual tourist traps.
But outside, the light is fantastic.
We find a Motel as it is already dark, where I am now sitting writing this report as a great day ends.