{Northwest Coast Road Trip} Day 1: San Francisco to Humboldt County, CA

I'm going to try to keep the vacation recaps short and sweet. It's all about the photos and food anyway, right? Right.

On Saturday, we flew into SFA via Virgin Airlines. This was our first Virgin experience, and I must say, it was a great one. The little touches, great customer service, and in-flight snack options were sweet. I was a bit miffed prior to my flight because M and I were not seated together despite being on the same reservation, but that was Priceline's bad and we were thankfully able to snag two seats together before take-off, and in an exit row to boot!

We had just a few hours in San Francisco as it was the cheapest city to fly into to begin our six-day road trip, but not formally part of the journey. We did at least grab a delightful meal on the embarcadero at Pier 23 Cafe. We dined overlooking the ocean, shielded from the chilly wind by a clear patio cover, and embraced our first opportunity to rock the hoodies.

Pier 23's Fish & Chips and Fish Tacos, complimented well by Henry Weinhard's Root Beer.

We headed north via the Golden Gate Bridge, which was even cooler than I remember. As it neared dusk, we stopped in the precious city of Novato, CA for some Peet's coffee and marveled at the Pleasantville-like perfection of this quaint locale. This country is rich with hidden gems, and I adore stumbling onto places like this.

Delirium set in as night fell and the day of travel was catching up with us. Giant trees seemed to jump out from the darkness as we twisted and turned our way up the 101 en route to Redcrest.

Pretty sunset and trees for days on the 101 North.

We arrived at our cabin on the Avenue of the Giants around midnight, and passed out not a moment too soon. A day of exploration and wonder waited for us with the sunrise...