Half Moon Bay

Ok, we are bad at staying home. We were not planning to go out on Memorial Day weekend. We had a commitment Saturday and figured everything would be too crowded, too much traffic, etc., so we had planned to stay home. But see, last weekend we were also home. So… we made it as far as Thursday night and I couldn’t take it. I jumped online just to, you know, see, look around at local campgrounds. There must have been a cancellation at Half Moon Bay State Park because this place is notoriously difficult to reserve. I was only looking for Sunday night, they had a spot, BOOM.

We’re getting used to the bike South along Highway 1 routine. The only variable this time was the traffic on Highway 1. Richard and I literally arrived at the same time at our site. It’s odd though how much I don’t care about traffic when I’m towing Dory. I crank the tunes and enjoy the view. I even kind of appreciate the fact that I don’t have to speed along or worry about slowing down people behind me. And boy howdy, it was crowded when I pulled into the park! They had a designated ranger standing there turning people around, explaining over and over that there was no parking. When I was able to produce a reservation number, she had me pull off to the side so I could get checked in and I was very glad to not be among those who seemed like they came all the way there to see if maybe there was space.

I was just beginning to back in when Richard pulled up on his bike. I’m getting decently good at backing now, and after a few minutes, we were in enough to be able to take a little break and have an espresso.

The afternoon was lazy; quick walk on the beach under overcast skies, nap, then grill for dinner. I had worked on a little project during the week where I attached netting under the flip out tables on the Weber Q. I was wanting some way of holding things like BBQ tools, trash bag, paper towels, but since I’m on a camping spending lockdown, I had to get creative. I must say, I am highly pleased with the results. I am also highly pleased with the tiny plastic bottles of Jose Cuervo I got to give a bit more kick to the Laughing Glass margarita mix. In fact, overall, two margaritas into the evening, I’d say I’m pretty pleased with most everything. Camping is fun.

We have reservations here again (would have been our first trip) in November. Checking out the sites, it appears I somehow managed to intentionally reserve the worst site possible. Hmm. It’s hard to tell from the Reserve America maps, and even from Campsitephotos.com, which sites will be nice and which will suck. That one sucks, but you know, camping, ocean, it’s all good regardless, even if it is right next to the parking lot. Keep in mind, I got up early on a weekend to reserve this site right when Reserve America opened up those reservations. Also, unbeknownst to me while I was busy reserving at my desk, a flood that started in the bathroom was steadily overflowing and running into the bedroom. By now, all the sites are taken of course. Oh well.

The drive home Monday was uneventful for us, but appeared to be approaching fist fight level for the tons of people backed up in cars trying to fight for parking spaces near the beach. We saw two cars really looking ready to ram each other as we rather quickly pulled around and headed the opposite direction. As we went East, there was an endless line of cars trying to head West. We pulled over in a nice scenic view place on Skyline Blvd. and had lunch, gave a tour to a couple of motorcyclists, and toodled on home. Not much traffic, home by 3. I suspect it’s a different story out on the highways right now.