Day 15: Hello, Bay Area

We passed through Santa Cruz and Los Gatos on the way up to San Francisco, but with the GPS stating only a couple of hours left in our journey, we didn't stop to look around.

Arriving in Oakland, home of some of the best signs.

And street art--

A few days before leaving on our trip we watched The Graduate at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ. If that doesn't make you want to drive a sleek, Alfa Romeo on the Pacific Coast Highway, I don't know what does.

We spent most of the day circling the East Bay scouring for apartments in this highly competitive, exorbitantly expensive real estate market. No luck today!

We spent a while parked here in front of a possible contender ($1500/mo studio apartment in Berkeley is considered a good deal). This cat eventually sat right where that metal cat stands, above the door.

Day 14: Pacific Coast Highway

Morning stroll and coffee in Venice...

Endless, excellent street art.

And some fabulous trees, too...

Here we are on the Pacific Coast Highway, heading North to San Francisco.

We walked down this path to the coastline because we heard sea lions. Turns out I'd scraped my legs through a bunch of poison oak... poor choices!

Proud to be lounging.

Foggy, winding roads of Big Sur.

There was no camping available throughout Big Sur, so we ended up crashing in Aptos.

Day 13: Western Play Date

Waking up refreshed at the cabin. Stephanie and Matt, pictured above, made breakfast. Matt is a Brooklyn native who rode his bike to California (where Stephanie hit him with his car, and the rest is history!). Coincidentally, Stephanie's Uncle Paul traveled the world on his bicycle years back. And I thought our road trip was tiring! See pictures from Matt's trip on he and his friend's Instagram: http://instagram.com/gnarmads

Stephanie and Sharon.

Not a bad view to wake up to!

Funny bear decor around town.

Friends :)

Matt likes to find hidden skate spots like this one.

Playing!

Sharon and Paul, what great hosts!

En route to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles was more beautiful than I would have imagined (I often heard complaints about smog, traffic, sprawl) and there was an odd sense of recognition, probably from all of the Hollywood movies.

Arriving at Venice Beach.

Pacific feeling...

The Venice Beach boardwalk was full of cops, by foot, by car and by helicopter. It made an otherwise funky place seem a bit sketchy.

Good night!