Today’s drive was a little shorter — only two-thirds of yesterday’s — but it was the first day we’d taken on city traffic as we drove in the San Franciscan ‘burbs.

Leaving this morning, it was really comfortable, with temps in the 60s. We put Nevada behind us pretty quickly, and entered California right around lunchtime. After a quick stop for snacks and bio-breaks, we decided to veer from our plans, and head down to Lake Tahoe for a bit.

The Tahoe area is beautiful, with big hills, and loads of pine trees reaching for the sky. Add to that the beautiful blue lake, and you end up with an idyllic setting. We stopped, looked, shot some photos, and decided to head back to the interstate for the push into San Francisco…. on the worst road ever.

I-80 through northern California has got to be the bumpiest, roughest interstate highway I’ve ever driven. I thought some of the roads in Arizona were bad, but this took the cake. At least in Arizona, you’re travelling on a roughly flat surface through the desert. This road was uphill and downhill, with plenty of bouncing, harsh turns and road construction to make it that much more enjoyable. What a road!

Early rush hour wasn’t too bad, and we made it to Half Moon Bay around dinner time, with plenty of time to catch a meal, and get to a public beach access to watch the sun set into the Pacific. There’s a wildfire burning near here, and I thought that might help color the sunset, but it didn’t really seem to help much. Still, it was a beautiful sunset.

This was the first time Sio was able to see the ocean close up. She said that it was weird to not be able to see the edge of it. I guess I’d gotten past all the novelty of how big the ocean can be. It’s definitely been interesting to see this new experience through her eyes.

Tomorrow is a down day for us, with us planning to be tourists in the big city. Next up is the trek up the coast, with the Pacific northwest awaiting us toward the end of the week.