It was tougher to drag Benna away from her Quincy friends. One of Karen's high school friends rode by just as we were trying to leave, creating a distraction for the kids.
Eventually I rolled out of town, and down route 70 headed west. The road winds through an incredible scenic valley for many miles. The scenery was incredible, but no pictures because Benna was asleep the whole way.
Eventually we emerged into the valley, where the landscape changed dramatically from huge Rocky Mountains to small uplifted hills to flat wide valley. Then, after a few small towns we found ourselves driving through mile after mile of orchards - peaches, walnuts, kiwis, plums, and a few farms of rice and grapes. We stopped for gas and a bite to eat in a random town, and I was surprised to see that all the signs were in Spanish. The choice of restaurants was between two taquerias. We chose the one with the large outdoor grill. We ate inside, as it had become quite hot in the valley. Benna was introduced to Jarrito soda and the Jerry Springer tv program. The food was not too bad either.
We pushed on into the Sacramento River valley and then on to Sacramento itself. I had b even warned that traffic could be nasty, and it was but fortunately the traffic was mostly heading in the other direction. After I-5 joined I-80 the traffic was essentially bumper to bumper for two solid hours in the other direction. W had smooth sailing right up until we hit the Bay Area. But eventually the inevitable Bay Bridge interchange slowed us down a bit. What a contrast this was to my driving over the past five days!
They are constructing a new Bay Bridge right next to the old one. It will be beautiful when it is finished but for now it is the same old bridge I remember driving over twenty years ago.
We managed fine in the downtown traffic and found our way to the youth hostel. The place is really pretty nice and the location is absolutely perfect. After settling into our room, we headed out for a short walk. Exiting the hostel and walking around the back we see the bay, Alcatraz, Girardelli square. About three long blocks and we are at the terminal of the Hyde street streetcar.
We looped around the square and then looked for something to eat. I had heard from the guy at the front desk that there was some kind of "street food" fair going on nearby. We followed the smell and discovered that "off the grid" was going on essentially in our back yard. Our youth hostel is the building at the top of the hill in the background of this picture...
There was a wide variety of food from vendors in food trucks, arranged in a big circle. In the middle of the circle there were lots of folding chairs and a small tent with a DJ, and had we stayed around there was a life band setting up. There were so many choices of great food and also wine and beer.
We started out with some old world food...
That was just a warm up, though. Benna convinced me to get a Chicken Tikka Masala burrito, and to get her the Deep Fried Ravioli Tikka Masala. It was delicious but oh man, I am still tasting it three hours later!
You can tell from these pictures that the temperature was dropping steadily as the sun went down and the fog rolled in. The golden light off the clouds set the tone for the end of yet another amazing day.
As I write this, cozy in our room, the "youth" part of youth hostel is evident. It is almost 11 pm, but the roars of laughter and chatter in English, German and French coming from the hallway are not letting up. It might be an Ambien night after all.
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