A Highway 1 Favorite Memory: Duarte's Olallaberry Pie and Crab Cioppino

Yes, in that order.  Start with the pie and top it off with the cioppino.  Then get some artichoke soup.  You had to know there would be at least one post about food in this series of favorite places in California's Bay Area! 

Duarte's Tavern is in Pescadero, which is another 3 minutes from the Half Moon Bay Ritz Carlton. 

Plus, you get to drive by this beach on the way.

My friend, Constance, called me one day and said "Let's go to Pescadero and try the cioppino that Guy Fieri says is his favorite." 

I said, "OK."

And so we went. And we spent.

But you would probably spend a lot more there now.  Things are so expensive these days.

(Seems like I went to a retreat in that area, too, at some point. I lived a hard life when I lived in Northern California.) 

A Bay Area Favorite Memory: Ritz Carlton Bagpiper

One hour and one minute from San Francisco south on Highway 1, you will find the Ritz Carlton hotel where you can park for free in the garage and stroll in reverie around the grounds, which include a golf course as well as these imposing, wind-whipped, ocean-eroded cliffs.

Go in the evening on a weekend to watch and listen to the lone (are you beginning to get the significance of One?) bagpiper  play--what else? --Amazing Grace as the sun sets on the horizon.  He walks off the grounds piping his last note right at the well-timed instant the sun splits and melts into red slats out over the silvery hot sea. 

You can also stay there, get married there, golf there and roast marshmallows in the patio fire pit there, but those things aren't free like the parking, walking and listening are. (Well, I guess you could bring your own marshmallows.)

Well worth the drive, even if this place didn't exist!  Highway One is my favorite road trip.  Stay tuned for more stopping off places along the way that will stir your heart and tickle your fancy.

A San Franscico Favorite Memory: Palace of Fine Arts

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 80s and 90s, and then more recently in the Mid-to-late aughts, this was my absolute favorite of favorite places to go.  For part of the time we were in the area, it was closed down, but the first time we visited there, it took my breath away,  It was at night time, a little darker than in this picture I downloaded from the internet.  A swan floated by, right through the golden reflection and I thought life couldn't get any more charming!