Feb 5-7 Route 1 North of San Francisco

Route 1
We had a sweet good-bye dinner with Mike following another gorgeous sunset at Pacific Grove. In the morning, we discovered that our rear view mirror had fallen off again.  Mike was handy and able to fix it for us.  He found an auto shop nearby and bought the required glue to hold it in place.  The last time we had it fixed it cost $80.; this time the glue was $8.00, Mike’s cost “priceless”. This set us all about an hour behind our scheduled departure but it didn’t really matter that much to either of us.
   Mark and I headed north on Route 1.  It took us through the center of San Francisco on a beautiful sunny afternoon.  We had lunch at the Cliff House overlooking San Francisco Bay and Seal Rocks where sea lions congregate.  The last time I was there was 1960 with my parents.  The views of the bay were still as beautiful as back then, but the restaurant had been renovated a few times since then. This was a wonderful memory of being in San Francisco.
   The drive up the coast took us over the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito and soon out of the city.  The coastline north of San Francisco on Route 1 hugs the rugged shoreline with sharp turns wrapping around high cliffs.  About 30 years ago Mark and I spent 2 weeks along this very route. Back then, we spent our first night at a lodge overlooking steep cliffs from the hot tub off our deck.  The lodge was located right off the road among a forest of Juniper trees.  Raccoons were everywhere on the property lapping  up the water from the hot tubs.  Our room overlooked the sea, however, we could only hear it because of the heavy fog that night.  We both have fond memories of that place, everything but the name of it or where it was!
  Now, as we are driving the same route we thought we might be able to find that Inn and relive a wonderful memory. Once it was dark, driving on the narrow curving road became more difficult. We decided to stop at the next available inn.  We clearly were not able to find that Inn from 30 years ago. We pulled into Timber Cove Inn for the night.  We were both tired, especially Mark who had done all the driving. A quick Manhattan at the bar was a welcomed nightcap.  We had asked the bartender if he possibly knew of an Inn on the beach set among huge Junipers and possible raccoons all around.  He looked at and said “This is that place.!”  Timber Cove had been sold and remodeled.  The trees were cleared and raccoons relocated.  What an amazing coincidence!