Pumpkins!!!

The last 20 days seem to have flown by and we were nearing the end of Verity’s time on the road trip.  Our last stop was a few days in San Francisco.  After a bit of fun and games we managed to get ourselves onto Highway 1 north out of Santa Cruz.  It hugged the wild Pacific coastline all the way up to Half Moon Bay.  Half Moon Bay is particularly popular at this time of year for its Pumpkin Festival, which I was hoping to attend the following weekend.  Along the highway we passed pumpkin farm after pumpkin farm, with hundreds of bright orange pumpkins spread out to choose from.  Some even had maize mazes or hayrides for kids.  I was in my element! We stopped at one farm and spent ages walking among the enormous pumpkins laid out in the field.  They even had wheelbarrows for you to pick up half a dozen.  At home you’re lucky if you get one box of pumpkins to choose from in the supermarket! 

In Half Moon Bay, we found a great little sushi place for lunch and enjoyed a walk around.  The service indicator light had come on in our car, so we decided to visit the Alamo branch at the airport on our way into town and see what needed to be done.  The ideal for us would be for them to keep the car for two days so we wouldn’t have to pay for the exorbitant parking charges in San Francisco, but we thought that was unlikely. As it happened, they wanted to just switch the car for a different one, so we carried on to San Francisco and swapped the car at the Alamo branch in the next street from our hotel.  They didn’t want to keep the car for us either, but did give us 24 hours’ free parking in the multistory where they were based.  They also upgraded the Corolla to a Chrysler for our trouble and threw in an extra free tank of gas.  Not bad.

Verity had booked us into the Herbert Hotel on Powell Street. It has been a hotel for almost a century, but had recently been refurbished so it had a very elegant feel and our room was spotless.  It was a great location, right on the Powell-Hyde Street Cable Car line and only a couple of blocks from Union Square. We decided to treat ourselves and go to the cinema, but being a Thursday night, we were the only ones in there.  So much for getting the American Cinema experience. I don’t even remember the name of the film, but it was terrible – something with Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer as a mafia family in witness protection in France.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our last full day in San Francisco before Verity flies home.

Final Road Trip Mileage with Verity: 2700

Farewell little Corolla, you did us proud!