Hurrah! Hurrah! The Top Came down on the Convertible Today! Hurrah!

Just a quick post. After eleven days in California, we finally got to take the top down on the rental convertible today. Today was sunny and not too terribly cold -- at least it wasn't too terribly cold by vacationing-Michigander standards -- so Monique and I took the top down and went for some scenic drivin' all day before going to eat dinner with Lloyd and Justine in Half Moon Bay in the evening.

At this point, I could probably a handy Google Map display, like the one that Susan installed on her blog to keep take of my travelin' parents, but vacationing Magee fans will just have to get their own map and follow along. For those of you scoring at home, here was our convertiblin' route:

• Departed Berkeley a bit after noon and headed West on 580
• Crossed over to Marin County via the Richmond-San Rafael bridge
• Drove South on 101 and over the Golden Gate Bridge.
• Bumped over to the very ritzy and scenic Seacliff neighborhood.
• Parked and walked around China Beach a bit.
• Drove out past the Palace of the Legion of Honor to Lands' End.
• Drove South along Ocean Beach.
• Drove South on Route One through Pacifica and past Devils slide.
• Stopped at Moss Beach and walked a bit along a cliff and a bit out on the beach at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.
• Drove further South down One until we stopped in San Gregorio at the San Gregorio General Store, where my very own little sister bought her wedding dress for our joint wedding.
• Drove up 84 to La Honda, where we tooled around my old neighborhood in the redwoods.
• Drove back through Loma Mar and Pescadero to the coast via Pescadero Rd.
• Drove South on One just past the Pillar Point Lighthouse almost all the way to the entrace of the Año Nuevo State Reserve, home of a really large elephant seal colony. (It all comes back to elephant seals, doesn't it?) Alas, it was too late to hike out and see my marine-mammal twins. Instead we...
• Turned around and drove North up One to Half Moon Bay, 'cause it was time for dinner with Lloyd and Justine.

For those of you who are not following along via a map at home, but are reading this from a Northern locale, here's the point. We drove around with the top off the car and we didn't get sleet or snow or ice pellets or freezing drizzle or any other form of frozen precipitation in our faces, just sunshine.

On our way back North we finally pulled over at Bean Hollow State Beach and put the top back up because the Sun had gone down and it was getting a wee bit chilly. After an outstanding dinner and visit, we headed on back to Berkeley, where Monique is now snoozing contentedly in bed.

Special kudos go to today's driver, the aforementioned sleeping wife. I've recovered quite a bit of my pep, but I have to admit that it was a joy to relax in the passenger seat all day and let her drive.