nsgrl and 
chreebomb on the pier in Hermosa Beach. We had the most wonderful time together. They are both gorgeous, fabulous, wonderful people. We stayed another night with family, then left early to escape the traffic. We took Hwy. 1 as far a Cambria before we were too tired to drive. It doesn't look far, but the drive is exhausting. Cambria is a tiny touristy village about halfway up the coast. Mountains, forests, beaches, sea critters, artists. We spent some time on the beach, some in the village, some just asleep. We needed the sleep.
Yesterday, we took Hwy. 1 from Cambria almost all the way to Santa Cruz. This is the unbelievably dramatic part of the coast that turns up in movies and television. It *should* have been a fun drive. However, we were caught behind a porty guy on a huge motorcycle, who didn't know how to drive his bike. He was afraid to bank in turns and kept wandering over the centerline. That's dangerous anywhere, but Hwy. 1 has blind curves and no shoulders in many places - just mountain on one side and ocean on the other. Not the place to learn to drive.
After a truly awful attempt at lunch at the Wild Ginger restaurant in Cambria, we stopped at the Big Sur Cafe in Big Sur. The food at Wild Ginger was horrific - beyond insane. They should pay us for eating that. The Big Sur Cafe served us some delicious food: black bean soup, bread with unsalted butter and kosher salt on the side, chocolate cake. Some aggressive, resident woodpeckers squacked loudly whenever the tables were cleared - they didn't want to go back to eating bugs.
We got to Heyward and spent the night with alashazam and his lovely girlfriend. I met him in 1983, I can't even contemplate that. We looked at old high school pictures and laughed. I may have inadvertantly revealed a few details about his bachelor party ("did you have a belt around your neck when that stripper spanked you?")
Today, we head into San Francisco.