Today should be called the day of driving. I drove from Mendocino to Bodega Bay. It took about three and a half hours to drive there and the first 30 miles were hairpin curves. Bodega Bay was a bit underwhelming. It’s tiny and really no central downtown area. I don’t think it was really worth the drive but now I know. At least I found some good fish and chips (day three in a row)!

I considered driving to Point Reyes National Seashore (which is what I should have done instead of Bodega Bay) but frankly Pete and I had enough of driving so we drove straight to San Francisco which took about an hour and a half. I have to admit that while I was driving over the Golden Gate Bridge and saw the city in the distance I got a little emotional. I got emotional for two reasons. The first reason is that I realized this was the longest drive I have done by myself (except for two weeks in Portugal). Secondly, arriving in this city marked the beginning of my second half journey. The house is sold, my six weeks of being a nomad across Portland is over. I’ve left my cocoon of familiarity. This is truly the first step of formulating my second half rewrite.

My short term rental was easy to find but parking was not! Fortunately my host was very helpful. I unloaded the car and then headed a block away to a fantastic dog park. Pete was shy at first but then he jumped right in with the 30+ other dogs. It was fun to watch all the dogs run, sniff and get along. I look forward to investigating San Francisco.