Let me give you some suggestions for routing in the Bay Area. If you are going to stay in the Santa Cruz area for Saturday night (that's not a bad idea), earlier on Saturday I want you to try to take in either lunch or dinner at Nepenthe's, http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/. It is at the northern end of Big Sur. You want to get a seat at the "table" that is outside along the side of the restaurant. It's easy to get. From those seats you will have a spectacular view of the Big Sur coastline. You are facing south at that point.

Then from Santa Cruz, the way I would recommend coming up to San Francisco is to pick up Route 9. You'll be riding through a dense redwood forest at times. You go through the town of Boulder Creek, a nice little town. Continue on Route 9 until you get to route 35, Skyline Drive. Turn north (left) on Skyline Drive. After about 12 miles, you'll get to the intersection of Route 35 (Skyline) and Route 84. This intersection is a big biker handout on Sunday mornings, when you will be there. If you want a bite to eat, pull in on the left at Alice's. It'a decent hamburger joint. If you want to stop just for a drink, pull into the parking lot on the right, in front of the convenience store. You'll see a lot of other bikers there on a Sunday morning.

After a break at Alice's, continue heading north on Skyline for another 13 miles, where you turn right on Route 92. Skyline is on a ridge. On 92, you are heading down from the ridge. At the bottom of the hill there is a traffic light. Turn left and take it a half mile to the entrance to I280 north. This is a really nice freeway.

Now i am going to take you through San Francisco without seeing downtown. But your time is limited and I have something special in mind in case you happen to like military or American History.

Eventually you will get near San Francisco. Be in one of the three left lanes of I280 which will eventually dump you out on what is called 18th Avenue. You take that north for a couple of miles, go through Golden Gate Park and eventually enter the Presidio of San Francisco. Traffic can be heavy here.Just underneath the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge is Fort Point, a Civil War fortress. http://www.nps.gov/fopo/index.htm. It is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and they give free tours. Let me think about the specific directions to get you to the point because it is easy to wind up on the bridge and miss the exit for Fort Point. If you are interested in this, I'll give you some directions to Fort Point.

 

@ Michael: THANK YOU!!!! I will be taking you up on the suggestions, again thank you.

@ Vernal: I am still putting together a time frame, I will be in Vernal. I'll be in touch. Thank you.

"Steve"

 

Let me know if you want the directions to Fort Point. They are very detailed.

 

A couple of delays, a reroute...maybe get to see the Pacific tomorrow...

 

Also if peeps are down for road trips let me know. Hopefully working in Coeur d'Alene Idaho in a month.