Reno, NV -> San Francisco International Airport (271 miles)
All the time changes finally caught up to us on our last day and neither of us could sleep in at all. So, we decided to head out early. Today was a day of leisurly making our way to San Francisco. We started by stopping at The Cup Cafe in Reno for a great breakfast (might’ve been the best eggs I’ve ever had) and my dad loved his omelette. After that, we took the twisties over Mt. Rose to the north side of Lake Tahoe. I couldn’t believe how fast everyone was driving them, I was working hard to keep pace in the Highlander with it’s less then ideal brakes…
We followed the road down along the east side of Tahoe and enjoyed the views of the Turquoise water. It was a perfect blue sky day so it didn’t disappoint.
As we reached South Lake Tahoe we figured the sights were over and we’d be on our way to SF. However, we were pleasantly surprised with the ups/downs of several mountain passes including sheer cliffs into deep valleys. The ride kept us entertained for quite a while!
Eventually we broke out of the mountains on onto the 5-lane highway into Sacramento and SF. This was a little wakeup call from the amazing driving and views of earlier in the day. We routed north a bit to be able to come into SF via the Golden Gate bridge. We drove over the 1.7 mile bridge and pulled into the touristy area to visit it.
SF has done a great job with the area as you can walk around to a lot of different spots to see the bridge from different angles. You can also walk over the bridge which was a bit more intense then we expected with 60 MPH cars on one side of you, a huge drop to the other side and bicyclists trying to mow you down. Nonetheless, it was pretty surreal. You don’t realize how high or large the bridge is when looking at it or driving over it.
Once we finished up at the bridge we headed to SFO to rendevous with the family. Just like a few years ago we arrived at the airport within a few minutes of them walking into the airport. We gave each other long hugs and then took the Air Train (kids were very excited)! We left my dad at the airport as he was catching a red-eye to go back across the country (a little faster this time).
In total, we did 3,174 miles from Londonderry, NH to SFO.
With the kids and family in the car we drove roughly an hour back into SF to meet our friends and stay with them for the next few nights. They have twin 1.5 year old boys and will be watching another 1.5 year so it’s safe to say this will be a bit chaotic!
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