World Photos by Paola: The Drive South of San Francisco

My mom left San Francisco last Thursday. I’m still in the process of getting used to having the apartment be so silent and to not having her, sitting on the armchair next to my desk in my room, keeping me company. Our moth together was truly wonderful and I’m going to miss her lots! I love you mom!

The last weekend my mom was here, we decided to show her a good time and to take her around to see more of the Bay Area and surrounding towns.

For a day trip on Saturday, we decided to drive south on Highway 1 towards Santa Cruz. Joe and I love the drive down, and we love all the little (and not so little) towns that you pass along the way. Sometimes we like stopping in those towns to grab lunch, a cup of coffee, or simply to explore them, so we decided to give my mom the road trip experience that we love so much!

To keep it interesting with my mom, we didn’t plan the day, but simply got on the car and drove south, having an idea of what is to see along the way.

Our first stop was Half Moon Bay, a town of about 11,000 people, located approximately 25 miles south of San Francisco. Half Moon Bay is a super cute town with a fun downtown full of vibrant stores, bakeries, and restaurants.

We walked up and down the main street and stopped at a cute bakery to grab some sweet pastries. When we were done, we got in the car and drove to the trailhead of the Half Moon Bay Coastal Trail.

The Half Moon Bay Coastal Trail runs parallel to the Pacific Coast along what used to be the Ocean Shore Railroad, which stopped operating once cars become popular in the 1920s. This trail is gorgeous! It offers amazing views of the Pacific Ocean, trails down to several beaches, and is a great place to spot wildlife, especially birds. In fact, we saw a red tail hawk when we were there this time!

I’m already planning on hiking this trail when my in laws come to visit!

This trail is part of the California Coastal Trail, which will eventually connect the entire California coast with an extensive hiking trail of about 1,200 miles, spanning from Oregon to Mexico! Now, that would be an awesome hiking goal!

As we continued our drive south, we passed Pescadero, a small town 2 miles inland from Hwy 1. Despite being a little town, (pop. 643), the Pescadero Creek is the longest stream in San Mateo County. When we first moved to San Francisco, and right after getting Bomber, we were driving on Hwy 1 and we stopped at Pescadero. Here we walked around the very small downtown, went for a stroll in the cemetery, which has fabulous views, and grabbed yummy sandwiches for lunch.

Finally, we reached the hidden beach before Santa Cruz where Joe and I had stopped some weeks before, and where a pelican had tried to attack us along the trail. My mom really loved the beach. We sat on the sand and watched Bomber run around and play on the sand. Unfortunately, what goes down must come up, right? My mom was not too happy with the steep uphill to go back to the parking lot from the beach. But, she did it and I’m so impressed by my super star, super strong mom!

After having lunch on a picnic table with a view of the ocean, we started driving back towards San Francisco.

On the way back, we stopped at Pigeon Point Lighthouse and at Point Montara Lighthouse.

I especially wanted to stop at Montara because, exactly one year ago, Joe and I stayed at the hostel at the lighthouse while we were waiting for our new San Francisco apartment to be ready for us to move into. I felt that the timing was symbolic and I wanted to see the place that had housed us for 2 days after we returned from 3 months of backpacking. This time the weather was gorgeous, the sun was shining and the water

looked very blue. When we were there a year ago, it was windy, rainy and cloudy. I remember we had all of our winter gear on, and were still cold.

A year later, we were there, with a dog, without our plants, and with a lot less bags in our car.

When we got back to the city, my mom stayed home to rest after a very fun, but very active day, and Joe and I went out for a walk. We left Bomber at home with my mom and we walked to Coit Tower to try to catch the sunset, and we did. The sky turned orange and red, and the city looked even prettier than usual!

When the sun went down, we returned home and hung out. What a fun day trip! What a fun day with my mom! I wish I had many more weekends to show my mom around my city, my state, and all the wonderful places there are to see here!