Apparently this is not my very first trip to the bay. I vaguely remember my earlier trip from San Jose to Half Moon Bay along with my friend, who refused to hand over the wheel for two reasons i) I am on learner's permit and ii) the road was steep and winding enough to say a blunt No. Since I like little challenges on the road once in a while, thought a short drive to Half Moon Bay would be perfect for the day.
I started off on 101 North towards San Francisco, and then managed to get onto 92 West going towards Half Moon Bay. The freeway became a two lane local road in no time with vehicles moving in both directions at a maximum speed limit of 35 miles/hour. Since it is a sunny holiday, hundreds of people are on their way to the bay and the road was blocked with vehicles in both directions, as far as I can see. On the top of that, it is a little hazy on the hilltop. Due to these conditions I had to maintain a consistent 2 mph speed switching between the break and the accelerator in 20 second intervals. Because of this conjestion on the road, I was very disappointed for not having a free fall of roller-coaster style (imagine a 1 mph free fall rather than a 50+ mph one) from an elevation of ~2500 feet. And the winding road is no match to the narrow & sharp curves of California State Route 130 (CA-130) between San Jose and Mt. Hamilton en route to Lick Observatory. That's another big disappointment. Fortunately Steve Tyler and the Gang (Aerosmith) got my adrenaline pumping with their single Love in an elevator (the chorus is surprisingly pleasant) and the exciting theme from Spiderman (it is kind of funny to hear heavy rock music in the backdrop; but I liked it so much that I re-wound the whole theme at least 6 times successively). That is a different story.
Since it took me nearly 70 minutes to drive 6-7 miles, I 've changed my mind in the middle and took an U turn at the Main street of Half Moon Bay and went back. Even though I'm disappointed with the unexpected 1 mph free fall and the not so exciting curves, I have no regrets for that short drive to Half Moon Bay city as it is a real treat to watch the green foothills, grassy slopes, pastures, road side cliffs, vineyard vistas/wineries, .. all along. Unfortunately I forgot the camera at home (ironically I mention photography as one of my hobbies); so, I am planning to go again some time soon to capture some of the scenic beauty. Perhaps I may dedicate a whole afternoon for a long drive between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz.
[An update: October 07, 2006]
Finally I managed to go for a two and half hour drive from Redwood City -> Half Moon Bay -> Santa Cruz -> San Jose -> Redwood City. Here are some photographs that I took while driving:
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