Oh, the places we will go. First stop, who knows?: Road Trip, Day 2 & 3

I chose to head to San Diego, rather than straight into Los Angeles, because Cory is there for training and it was a free place to crash. It was a relatively short drive, in comparison to the 1,060 miles from Monday. Got there, hauled my crap up to the room and then we hopped onto a train to downtown. Wandered for a bit till we found a sun-drenched patio in San Diego’s Little Italy…granted, it was a British pub, where we had fish and chips, but nonetheless. Smelled Italian. Took a taxi to the beach just in time for a clichéd, beautiful Californian sunset, a few drinks at an overtly touristy bar, and then back to the hotel. Was up this morning by 4, and out into a rainy, chilly dawn…the drive to Fort Bragg took 5 hours longer than I allotted. I wasn’t sure when I should get on hwy 1/ 101 and got on a tad too soon, and ended up in Long Beach rush hour morning traffic. It took me several hours to traverse the coastal side of Los Angeles, with all the lights and traffic, but eventually, once I was a little north of Santa Monica, I was rewarded with some pretty spectacular coastal views. I appreciate the beauty of ANY coast, but in the heavily populated areas, like Laguna and Newport, I found it had a very inauthentic feel. Sure, it was asthetically pleasing, but there is an allure to truly historic, salt water battered coastal towns that I find much more satisfying. There is something disconcerting about new towns painted to look old and charming. Charm comes from character. Not paint and manicured bushes.

Anyway, as the hours passed, I realized it was going to take me much longer to get to Fort Bragg, my stopping point for the evening. I was supposed to get there by 4 in the afternoon. Got caught in rush hour in downtown San Francisco, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, and then found myself white-knuckled, winding through the dark on 128 (google it). It’s a twisty, mountain route. Not fun in the dark. Needless to say, I was beyond ready to be done with driving for the day. …I checked into Shoreline Cottages around 9pm. Which, are absolutely adorable, by the way. Another place I plan on bringing Caden to. I had plans to go Glass Beach and explore the town, but all that’s happening now is bed. I'm just glad I got here in time to check in, because it's a Mom & Pop kinda' place, and it would suck if they were already shuttered for the night when I got here. Oh well. Glad this day is over.