Been feeling down lately, and – like the guys in the old movie “Animal House” - when things are bad nothing cheers me up like a road trip.
Rich’s Rules of the Road:
1) No superhighways – take the back-roads
2) No staying, shopping, eating, drinking at an establishment that has a branch within 25 miles of home (otherwise, why travel?)
3) Meet someone new every day
4) Do something new every day
5) Practice at least one act of random kindness each day
Driving North on California Highway 1. Staring from Santa Cruz – ending, well, we’ll see how far I get. No schedule. No plan.
Day 1
Loaded up the truck with the camper shell, a small tent and a hibachi borrowed from Jason. Put the windsurfer and my surfboard on top and packed a week of clothes.
Drove to Santa Cruz at about noon and then headed north on 1. It’s a windy curvy road. The first stop was for a late lunch at the brew pub at Half Moon Bay – called, you guessed it – Half Moon Bay Brewery. This is one of my favorite haunts. They make a great IPA, but check their seasonal brews, they’re usually pretty good, too. Spent a couple of hours chatting up one of the new waitresses. Only had 2 beers because I wanted to go a bit further than Half Moon Bay – that would not count as a road trip.
After leaving HMB made my way up to San Francisco. I was planning to make it to Sausalito or further north for the night, but I had a yen for some good Italian food. I succumbed to the call of Kuleto’s. One of my favorite restaurants in SF. A lot of folks say its past its prime, I think it’s great. I should have called Joe (a friend who lives in the city) but it was short notice. I had dinner at the bar and flirted with the gay barkeep (with no intention of following through). Had some great Italian food and a good bottle of Chianti.
Was thinking of staying at the Villa Florence hotel for the night but it was sold out. That’s the problem with “no plan”, there are no reservations. I made my way to the Westin San Francisco. It’s a few blocks away from Kuleto’s and after a whole bottle of Chianti I was in no condition to drive. I like Westins, their “heavenly bed” is, well, heavenly. I love rolling around on that king sized bed under the down blanket with a lover. Anyway, after chatting up the clerk at the front desk I got the weekend rate for the night (score!). I got a room pretty high up, with a great view. Sadly, no lover. Oh, well, maybe next time.
I plan to sleep in late tomorrow. Life is good. Wish I could live like this all the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment