San Francisco - Half Moon Bay and the Shelldance Orchid Gardens February 17 and 18th

Woke up to another beautiful morning. It was under a 2 hour drive to the San Francisco RV Park where I had booked us for a week so we didn't leave until 10 am.  The drive was pretty good with light traffic. Up Highway 1 to Santa Cruz and then on the 17 over the mountain to I-280 and then back on Highway 1 to Pacifica. Hwy 17 is a very narrow twisty road up and down a mountain I remembered how we hated it 6 years ago but Ray is now a very practiced drive with the coach so today it was no problem. :) 

No pictures of Hwy 17 as I was hanging on lol. It was just a cut through a small valley with steep sides and at times only 35mph with tight corners.

I-280

I-280 coming down into San Francisco

Once we were all set up and had lunch we were able to sit outside and enjoy the view for the rest of the afternoon. As we had no one camped on the driver's side, we sat there out of the breeze.

Here was our sunset tonight.

Saturday morning definitely cool outside at 39F (4C). Jumped out of bed and turned up the heat and went back to bed for 10 minutes or so until the coach warmed up.

After a slow morning we headed out at 9:45 to drive down to Half Moon Bay and work our way back up to the Shelldance Orchid Gardens.

First stop was Pacifica State Beach with all the surfers. The parking lot was so busy I just dropped Ray off and it took me 10 minutes to make it around to pick him back up!

Our second stop on the way down was Gray Whale Cove for some pictures. 

The dunes were covered in wild strawberries.

Next we took a road down to Mirimar Beach. There were some people fishing off the shore. The surf was pounding in so hard it was coming over the rip rap and soaking the road. We could only imagine what it was like during the storms last month.

Back in the car to the Pillar Point Harbour to check out the boats. It was a busy day as there were 10 boats or so selling crabs and rock fish right off the boats. Probably due to it being the Saturday of the long weekend. Of course we had to buy some more crab at $7/pound. We also bought a live rock fish so Ray had to fillet it at home too.

And a fresh rock cod.

Crabs, crabs and more crabs.

By the time we were leaving the lineups were getting much longer for fresh crab and fish.

I noticed some old cars coming into the parking lot so snapped a few pictures. A nice day for a drive.

 

Continuing back on Hwy 1 towards home, we drove through the Pillar Point RV Park. I was nothing like the pictures online for space. Thank goodness we did not end up there. They were even tighter than at the San Francisco RV Park where we ended up. The picture below is from google ... the actual driving around through was even tighter and the park was totally full. No room really for a 40' motorhome to manouver. I don't know if they were "squished more" due to storm damage or not. there was fences up around the extra parking area.

There is a very long tunnel you go through on the highway too.

The Tom Lantos Tunnels are two tunnels located within the coastal promontory of Montara Mountain, on the San Francisco Peninsula in California, United States, created to allow rerouting State Route 1 to avoid a portion of roadway known as Devil's Slide. They are officially named after late Congressman Tom Lantos, who was instrumental in securing funding for the project, but de facto named after their location.

The Devil's Slide tunnels, as they are usually called, are the second and third longest road tunnels in California at 4,149 ft (1,265 m) northbound, and 4,008 ft (1,222 m) southbound. By comparison the longest road tunnel currently in California, the Wawona Tunnel on Highway 41 in Yosemite National Park, is 4,233 ft (1,290 m).

We stopped further up Hwy 1 to take a picture of the High Point Montara Lighthouse but it was closed so Ray walked a bit from the parking lot to get the best picture he could.

Our last stop was the Shelldance Orchid Gardens. This is really a nursery for orchids and succulents that they sell. What a fascinating place, at least to us, with all the different types of orchids and colours.

They have an incredible view down to the water.

The living wall.

The night guard.

My "old man" in the Old Man's Beard.

After wandering around the place for half an hour it was time to go back to the coach and have some fresh crab for lunch. Ray cleaned the crabs and then filleted the fish for me so it's ready for tomorrow's dinner. Clouds came in shortly after 12:30 in the afternoon so it was a good thing we did our touring with the blue skies this morning.

My Fish Monger

After lunch we had neighbours move in beside us .... no water view now. Very tight spots, there is only less than 2 feet between our slides! They are here only for 3 days so hopefully it stays empty after that for our last two days here. They were not so happy with how tight it was either and had to go nose in with the services on our side.

As Dianne says "Hellooooooo" lol

For dinner tonight, we headed out to San Mateo to meet up with my cousin Wendy and her husband Rob. We haven't seen Wendy for 5 years and Rob for 7 years, I think. Great dinner at the Palette Tea Room and Dim Sum Restaurant.  

As we arrived early we wandered around the courtyard and Ray took some pictures. Gorgeous. 

I snapped this one, see the ducks in flower bed in the fountain not minding the water shooting up at all.

My Uncle Dunc, Wendy's Dad, used to have a house nearby here she told me and I remember flying down from Vancouver by myself and visiting him when I was 9 years old.

Here is a picture of Rob and Wendy I managed to get before we got busy eating. Dinner was delicious. Thanks for dinner guys! Their two girls, Emily and Kate, opted not to come ... teenagers lol It was great to catch up as Rob leaves for Hawaii tomorrow on business for the week.

Rob decifering the menu lol

The traffic was not too bad, even though we traversed between 3 different freeways to get back. Made it home by 7:30. Thank goodness for the "bitch in the box". lol Great driving Ray!