While Half Moon Bay isn't that far from our home (it's about 60 miles away) we cannot expect to make it there in an hour. Especially with all of the cool places to stop on the way.
And, we're off!
We left home last weekend with a plan to stop in San Francisco for a snowboarding festival and perhaps grab some food. From there we were going to head down to Half Moon Bay and hopefully see some big waves.
The snow fest attendees were in a line wrapping around AT&T park so we skipped this part of our adventure and drove to SF's Valencia neighborhood for a trip to my husband's favorite gravy-makers: a restaurant called The Pork Store. With a name like that it's not surprising they have an amazing sausage gravy. It's without question the best breakfast gravy I've ever had. What is surprising is their selection of vegan and vegetarian items. Most carnivores don't think twice about their green-eating friends when they dine out, but menus are often geared toward animal-inclusive dishes. The Pork Store cares. Out of curiosity I ordered the vegan sausage the first time I saw it, and I have ordered it on every visit since; I highly recommend stopping in here and trying it. (It's extra good when dipped in the sausage gravy.) Nom! If it's a Saturday afternoon and you're not in the mood for breakfast, the place next door has $1 oysters all day and pitchers of ice cold adult beverages.
With full bellies we resumed our journey and found ourselves on the beautiful highway leading through and past South San Francisco. The large San Andreas Lake crept along the road with us, making the drive a little bit prettier than it already was. We ended up stopping again in Hillsborough. My husband calls this "the town with no sidewalks". The residents don't want riff-raff like us coming through, or something like that. Hearing this made it imperative that we cruise through the neighborhoods and check out the homes. It's a very pretty community. Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir is not far off the freeway and the park has the wonderful Sawyer Camp Trail leading around the water. Even though there's no shore-access, it's a great place to stop and stretch your legs.
We turned onto Half Moon Bay Road. The slow traffic ahead didn't bother us much - we had more stops to make! A brightly colored sign for Lemos Farm caught our eye and we headed up their driveway. Children everywhere! This place might be fun for adults with kids. There was a train and ponies and games. We didn't even park - just drove through the HUGE parking lot and turned around. Way too many kids for us.
Several pumpkin farms were still open and since it was only a few days past Halloween we decided to stop at Marsh & Sons farm and buy a couple. My husband hates when I over-react but as I picked up a moldy pumpkin and squashed my hand into it's bug-filled bottom, I screamed so loud that people stopped what they were doing and stared for a minute. We cautiously checked a few others. Were they really trying to sell their moldy pumpkins? Back to the car!
We drove past a few Christmas tree farms. Did you know the average home tree takes about ten years to grow? It can take a hundred years for the giant ones used commercially. We made one last stop at Smith Field. We had finally reached Half Moon Bay and wanted to now find Surfer's Beach, where the Maverick's competition takes place. It was late in the day and we were pretty tired from all the fun; it was the perfect time to sit down and watch the waves. Our map took us to a cliffy area where we hiked down to the sand. The sand was noticeably soft and warm. Smart beach-goers would've worn sandals, but we really didn't mind. We went home that night with a great day behind us and a little sand in our shoes. Life's good.
And, we're off!
We left home last weekend with a plan to stop in San Francisco for a snowboarding festival and perhaps grab some food. From there we were going to head down to Half Moon Bay and hopefully see some big waves.
The snow fest attendees were in a line wrapping around AT&T park so we skipped this part of our adventure and drove to SF's Valencia neighborhood for a trip to my husband's favorite gravy-makers: a restaurant called The Pork Store. With a name like that it's not surprising they have an amazing sausage gravy. It's without question the best breakfast gravy I've ever had. What is surprising is their selection of vegan and vegetarian items. Most carnivores don't think twice about their green-eating friends when they dine out, but menus are often geared toward animal-inclusive dishes. The Pork Store cares. Out of curiosity I ordered the vegan sausage the first time I saw it, and I have ordered it on every visit since; I highly recommend stopping in here and trying it. (It's extra good when dipped in the sausage gravy.) Nom! If it's a Saturday afternoon and you're not in the mood for breakfast, the place next door has $1 oysters all day and pitchers of ice cold adult beverages.
With full bellies we resumed our journey and found ourselves on the beautiful highway leading through and past South San Francisco. The large San Andreas Lake crept along the road with us, making the drive a little bit prettier than it already was. We ended up stopping again in Hillsborough. My husband calls this "the town with no sidewalks". The residents don't want riff-raff like us coming through, or something like that. Hearing this made it imperative that we cruise through the neighborhoods and check out the homes. It's a very pretty community. Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir is not far off the freeway and the park has the wonderful Sawyer Camp Trail leading around the water. Even though there's no shore-access, it's a great place to stop and stretch your legs.
We turned onto Half Moon Bay Road. The slow traffic ahead didn't bother us much - we had more stops to make! A brightly colored sign for Lemos Farm caught our eye and we headed up their driveway. Children everywhere! This place might be fun for adults with kids. There was a train and ponies and games. We didn't even park - just drove through the HUGE parking lot and turned around. Way too many kids for us.
Several pumpkin farms were still open and since it was only a few days past Halloween we decided to stop at Marsh & Sons farm and buy a couple. My husband hates when I over-react but as I picked up a moldy pumpkin and squashed my hand into it's bug-filled bottom, I screamed so loud that people stopped what they were doing and stared for a minute. We cautiously checked a few others. Were they really trying to sell their moldy pumpkins? Back to the car!
We drove past a few Christmas tree farms. Did you know the average home tree takes about ten years to grow? It can take a hundred years for the giant ones used commercially. We made one last stop at Smith Field. We had finally reached Half Moon Bay and wanted to now find Surfer's Beach, where the Maverick's competition takes place. It was late in the day and we were pretty tired from all the fun; it was the perfect time to sit down and watch the waves. Our map took us to a cliffy area where we hiked down to the sand. The sand was noticeably soft and warm. Smart beach-goers would've worn sandals, but we really didn't mind. We went home that night with a great day behind us and a little sand in our shoes. Life's good.
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