Northern California, 5Yr Anniversary Bucket List Trip

Five years married, a bucket-list week in California, and a yellow Corvette convertible picked up at SFO. Landed at 10:23 and drove straight east over Altamont Pass, into Yosemite by late afternoon: Bridalveil Fall, El Capitan, and the valley from Tunnel View in the evening light. A full day in the park followed - Glacier Point with Half Dome across the valley, the giant sequoias of Mariposa Grove and the Clothespin Tree, Yosemite Falls - with the night at The Ahwahnee. The last Yosemite morning was spent on horseback, a guided ride up from the valley floor with Nevada Fall and Liberty Cap from the saddle.

Then the coast. Out of the park around ten and south-west to Morro Bay, arriving in time for the sun to go down behind Morro Rock. The next day was the drive that was the reason for the drive: down to Pismo Beach and its pier, then north on Highway 1 with the top down, the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, and on into Big Sur as far as Willow Creek in the Los Padres National Forest. Cannery Row in Monterey the following morning, and into San Francisco by mid-afternoon.

Three days in the city. Fisherman's Wharf and a boat out onto the bay past Alcatraz, with the Golden Gate Bridge standing in its own fog, and the sea lions at Pier 39 before the Aquarium of the Bay. A day for the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, the Powell-Market cable car, and Dudley Perkins Co., the oldest Harley-Davidson dealership in the country. The last full day was Union Square, the painted hearts, an open-top sightseeing bus, and a Segway tour out of 505 Beach Street along the Embarcadero to Cupid's Span. Home on the 20th.