Two quick days in San Benito TT Park and we headed north again....this time to San Francisco RV Park right on the bluffs in Pacifica which is just south of the Golden Gate Park. We parked the 5th wheel in a slot just one row off the edge of the bluff and had a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. The rv park itself was sort of like a parking lot but the proximity to the ocean's roar lulling us to sleep at night was worth it.

Our first full day was a sunny one and we decided to take a drive south. We stopped at Rockaway Beach a short drive away and took Dude on a mile's walk up and around a hill to overlook the next beach. While in Rockaway we noticed a sign advertising a Farmer's Market in the afternoon two days from then and made a note of it. Hopping back in the truck we began in earnest to look for a nice place to have lunch. We found a lovely restaurant in Moss Beach called Moss Beach Distillery. We both ordered seafood and while waiting for our meals, read a story about the restaurant and (now gone) hotel. Apparently the restaurant is haunted by a ghost called The Blue Lady because she most often appears in a blue dress. Back in the 1930s, during Prohibition, the restaurant and its "protected" beach was a hotspot for liquor smuggling. A young lady fell in love with the piano player at the restaurant bar. One evening her estranged husband showed up at the bar and the two men fought. The fight moved outside to the beach and in the morning the young lady was found on the beach, stabbed to death. The piano player was bruised but alive and the husband was never found. People soon began sighting an apparition of a lady dressed in blue around the restaurant, beach and hotel. It is believed that at first she was attracted to her still-living lover and now it seems as though she just likes the place. We spoke with our waitress who said that many people, the staff especially, still occasionally feel and see her. Of more interest to us was the actual possibility of sighting a migrating gray whale which at this time of year would be headed north to the Arctic Sea but....alas, no luck. We continued our drive south beyond Half Moon Bay and then headed east up into the mountains. Our return drive was along Skyview Hwy. through the mountains from which we could see both the Pacific Ocean as well as San Francisco Bay.

The next day, feeling adventurous, we headed into San Francisco on the BART train. BART may be handy for commuting but to us it was noisy, smelly and uncomfortable to ride. We rode on it to Embarcadero which runs along all the piers on the waterfront. It was about a 2 mile + walk for us to reach Pier 39 (Fisherman's Wharf) from Market and Embarcadero but well worth the slog. At the end of that long walk we sat down to a sourdough bowl of clam chowder and a bottle of SF Anchor Steam beer!! Yum!! After finishing our chowder we walked further along to Ghiardelli Square where we bought a bag of their chocolate squares....all flavors! Needing to work all those goodies off our waistline we decided to walk from Ghiardelli's to Chinatown along Columbus. Lots of interesting sights along the way; cable cars, Lombard St. and North Beach were a few. In Chinatown we were talked into stopping at a Chinese Restaurant for saki and Chinese appetizers. Further walking was required once again and we continued on to Market and the BART station where the train took us back to Colma (near Pacifica).

Following our sunny SF adventure day was an interlude day of dreary weather so we did laundry, played cards, took walks with Dude in between raindrops and visited the Farmer's Market in Rockaway Beach for some fresh produce. The next day dawned grey again in Pacifica but we were visiting relatives across the bay and the weather change was dramatic. First destination was Betsy's sister, Sue, in Martinez where it was cool but sunny. Sue has two dogs, Matty and Susie, so when we arrived it was a sort of canine madhouse for a bit with Dude added into the mix.

We took all 3 dogs for a walk to work out the hijinks so we could sit down for lunch and a chat on our return. Not long after lunch, we hopped in our vehicles, dogs and all, and headed for Sue's daughter Sally's house in Lafayette. What a colorful drive with the green hills and blooming flowers in the warm sun. Another canine confrontation with their dog, Daisy, awaited but soon enough all dogs were getting along. Sally and John, her husband, also have 3 boys, Jake 12, Riley 10 and Lucas 8 and the first thing we did was take another walk to pick the two younger boys up from school. The walk took us down, around and up hills and wore out poor Matty (an older pooch) but it was good to stretch our legs. Soon we were back at Sally's where we visited, ate, chatted and played Ladder Ball with the boys. The visit was much too short before we were back on the road to Pacifica where we had to pack up and leave the next day for a new destination.