Road Trippin'



tide pools, Encinitas, CA

Little octopus hiding under a rock

To drive or not to drive, that is the question.   I'll be going up north in a little bit and deeply pondered the pros of just getting in the truck and traveling on my own terms versus cons of the long, long hours on the road.  It was sort of hard to price it out. Virgin America has screaming great deals from San Diego to SFO lately, only $69 one way.  And I love that airline, they have great service and pretty comfortable coach seats.  Enterprise Car rental was sort of tricky.  They have weekend rates of around $9 a day, Friday return Monday.  Otherwise, it was about $33 (or was it $37?) a day.  And that was from the car rental place in San Rafael.  So depending on who I could work with at Enterprise, I maybe could have gotten the weekend rate and two days full price.  Plus, I had to factor in the long term parking, which would be about $66 and the roundtrip   Driving on the other hand, is the cost of gas.  At the time I worked it out, I figured $4.20 a gallon.  Soooo,  it turned out to be $100 cheaper to drive.

Unlike a road trip to Arizona, there is a lot more to see between San Diego and San Francisco.  I'm probably going to go up 101 and maybe stay the night in San Luis Obispo.   Then it's a short trip home.   Of course, the more direct way is up 5, over the Altamont pass, then into the east bay and over the richmond-san rafael bridge.  Well, I've done that drive many times and it is really boring.  According to the directions from Google maps, it a 7 hour and 2 minute drive.  Righhhht!   It takes at least 8 hours to get from Marin to LA. 

Monterey is a destination along the 101.  It's a great place to poke around for an afternoon.  Of course, there's the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I must have spent 5 hours there, I loved it!  But I'm that kind of person, I just love the ocean and all the creatures in it. And if you are the literary/history sort, you'll love to visit the old hangouts of Steinbeck and Cannery Row.  I also went to Carmel one night to see a concert.  But none of the tour books informed me that they don't have street lights in that town.  Needless to say, it was difficult to find my way around at night!! 

So maybe this time around I'll stop in Carmel during the day for a visit to their world-famous art scene.  Another plus to driving is that I can load up on all the goodies I want.  So maybe a trip to an out-of the-way winery is in order. 

Once I'm back home it will be a little business (yuk, taxes), but more pleasure seeing old friends.  Can't wait!