Today we went to the IHoP for breakfast again. Apparently the waitress from the first evening had mocked about her tip, so today’s waitress put the – to her mind – appropriate tip directly on the check. To our minds it was a little oversize so we – unfortunately – had to cut it down. We became sated anyway.
Then we headed south, towards San Jose. On the freeways there was a fairly rush hour chaos, and because the formerly known amiability of the American car drivers at least at such times isn’t there anymore it wasn’t much fun driving here. We found a Safeway anyway, could get some of the ordered things and also had an internet connection, since the one at the motel still wasn’t working.
Afterwards we went on, the Big Basin Redwood State Park was on. The last 12 miles were again comparable to a roller coaster – winding, uphill and downhill, but this time all had fun. Finally we had reached the park, but it wasn’t what we expected: it was just a parking lot and a lot of hiking trails. So we saved the entrance fee and drove towards Santa Cruz.
Halfway we made a stop in the nice, small Boulder Creek - exact as one imagines a small town within this area. Then we went on for Santa Cruz. There we had a coffee at Starbucks and a snack. Santa Cruz is also a beautiful town, this one we should note down for the next US trip!
From there we took highway 1 towards San Francisco. We wanted to enjoy the dream road another time. And in this area it isn’t that winding and rangy as in the north of San Francisco. We made two stop-over’s to enjoy the great coastal view, despite high winds. It is simply wonderful scenery out here!
Short before reaching San Francisco we were stuck in the rush hour again and had a little congestion. But then it went on, first relatively slow, then faster, so we didn’t arrive at the motel too late. There we had a short break before addressing the important question: where to go for dinner tonight? Near the motel we had spotted another restaurant, so we decided to drive there – perhaps wisely suspecting. Because it didn’t look like as we would feel good in there. So the search went on, and the solution was found quickly and close by: a Chinese buffet. Yes, despite all the assurances made some days ago a buffet again. The price of $14.99 per person first wowed us, but the choice was accordingly. So we enjoyed it and drove back to the motel happy and sated. There we had something to drink and the mandatory photo show before going to bed prior to our last holiday.
