It’s been a really great week. Missy came for a visit this past weekend and we drove all over the western seaboard and into Napa Valley. Before Sunday, I hadn’t ever been along the northern side of Route 1, so I had no idea what to expect. What I wasn’t aware of, however, was of the exceptionally high shortage of guardrails they have out here. Motorists can drive along windy highways not inches from a 500 (or so) foot drop into the Pacific Ocean.

Two of the places you will see photographed here are the Muir Beach Overlook and Stinson Beach. I also took a few pictures of the drive between the two. That’s the drive I referred to above. That’s the drive amazing and scary enough to make any slightly tourettic person consider the possibility of one spasmatic jerk to the left or a bee sting on high. What if? Sweet Jesus, what if?

I think Missy held her eyes for a bit. I did not. I was driving.

Our view from the Muir Beach Overlook was quite different from what you will see at the link above. Our view was covered in fog. And I can’t say I’d trade it for the clear version. How totally spooky and completely nightmarish.

Aside from some touring, we saw Modest Mouse at the Warfield on Saturday. They’re so good. They can cheer any gal up. That’s really all I have to say about that.

Muir Beach Overlook. Apparently this was once used as an artillery station. You walk along this rail-lined stairway all the way to the tip and top of the world.

::insert Led Zeppelin music here::

This is the end of the walkway. Occasionally, through the the fog we could see the waves below, crashing up against the shore. The drop here was hundreds of feet. I’m still finding it hard to believe that if one drives 10 miles out of San Francisco, this is what they’ll see.

Toby and Missy.

Just a few miles north of Muir Overlook, there is sunshine. The fog clears and people are swimming along the coast, sunbathing and surfing.

…or burying their brothers in the sand.

That’s fog in the distance. What a strange and wonderful city this is.

We’re way up high now. I used my zoom for this shot, hence the blurriness and harsh light. I am totally digging that gal in the center who has her arms up as if to say “Yay! Today!”