The San Francisco Treat... DING! DING!

Yesterday, we drove through a tree. It requires no more description than that, frankly. Caroline also purchased her very own Redwood tree, now only a few inches tall. In just 2,000 years, it may grow up to be the tallest tree in Chicago, IL by FAR.


We departed Redwood sadly, knowing we had a long and quite probably harrowing drive ahead of us. We were not disappointed.

U.S. 101 is known as the Redwood Highway, as it stretches down through thick forests from the Oregon coast all the way to San Francisco. Not only is it aptly named because of the giant trees lining its scenic pavement, but also because it is, in fact, a highway. That is much more than can be said for the road we were on for much of yesterday - nearly 7 hours by my watch. California State Road 1, the road that runs along the coast, is a road that has quite a bit more character than any I've been on before. It winds its way SLOWLY for a couple hundred miles, following the bluffs and hills along the gorgeous central California coast.

There were perhaps two instances when the road was straight enough to calmly sit in the driver's seat and just drive. Apart from them, it curved, switched back and forth, climbed incessantly and dropped just as relentlessly. Speed limits varied from 55 to 10, and most curves were simply marked by a yellow diamond that we learned meant something like, "You really should probably grab onto something with both hands if you take this turn at more than 3 miles per hour."

Though challenging and unforgiving, CA-1 was incredibly beautiful. We were right alongside the massive expanse of the Pacific Ocean nearly the entire time. The day was clear so when atop crests of hills and on cliffs we could see for countless miles in every direction. The only thing that could have made the drive more enjoyable was a convertible - now don't get me wrong, I'm desperately in love with my baby, the car, but I wished just for a moment that we could peel off her roof and experience the California sun like it was meant to be experienced.

Having timed our journey with great skill and technical acumen, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge right at sunset. The cities surrounding the bay were starting to turn their lights on and all was fantastic. We arrived at Luke's uncle Kurt's apartment in the heart of downtown, just off Lombard Street, the "curviest street in America" or something. I honestly don't know how people drive on these streets year-round. They are so impossibly steep that when I was parallel parking, I had to use both feet - one on the brake and one on the gas, using the brake as a sort of clutch. It was quite the strange experience but what can I say - I'm good. This is the view from the back of Uncle Kurt's apartment. Alcatraz Island is in the left of the frame and far off to the right, Berkeley shines in all of its liberal glory.

Uncle Kurt showed us around downtown for a bit before kindly treating us to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant. We went to check out the sea lions at the pier, which not disappointingly were noisy and boisterous, barking at each other constantly. Tomorrow we're interviewing Kurt and an author who works at a San Francisco writers' cooperative. Then it's off to Alcatraz and dinner in the world famous Chinatown. It will be a busy day, but as always, that's how we like it.