After waking up at our motel in a grove of redwood trees, we had continental breakfast outside under a gazebo. The fog was dense in the trees. It was a nice morning after day of bike crashing and the worst Mexican food known to mankind.
While I was back at the room doing a few of my Branches weekly duties, Andy went and threw some horseshoes. While tossing some ringers, a fellow traveler named Dawn came over and talked with him. I never met him but from the sounds of it, he was in his sixties, traveling the North California coast from SoCal and had a huge love for maps and redwoods trees. Dawn gave Andy tips on what trails to walk through to see 500 year old "old growth" redwoods and filled Andy with all kinds of fun facts about the coast. So many facts that he spewed them to me for the remainder of the day:)
We continued down HWY 101 until it became unbearably HOT (99oF). In the town of Leggatt, we turned off and took HWY 1 toward the coast. Soon the temperature dropped to a comfortable 80. This road was tight and windy for 40 miles. Think Cornelius Pass Rd's tight hair pin turns but through the mountains and by the ocean for a prolonged hour and a half. Andy has been tasked with driving the entire way so far, so I had it easy snapping pictures in the passenger seat.
We pulled into Fort Bragg at 3:10pm and checked into out Bed and Breakfast, The Weller House Inn. There was a sweet black cat outside that took to Andy as we waited to be welcomed inside. This place was built in 1886 and restored just 15 years ago. It is quite charming but also a little noisy between hearing people walk above us and the old pipes in the walls pushing water to the upstairs rooms. Our hosts name is Mandy. She is 53 and a preschool teacher in Kentucky but was born in Australia. She is here for the summer working at the Inn in trade room and board. She is a sweet lady who lost her husband 3 years ago and wanted to get out and "explore the country again," citing that she had traveled the west coast in her early twenties.
The day continued with a short 2 block bike ride to the local brewery to pick up some beers. I'll let Andy tell you about this part in detail as he's the one enjoying the beers.
We also took a nice long bike ride along the towns ocean front paved trail. This was simply gorgeous. It was sunny and warm and the water was tropical blue. 
I've been using an app called TripAdvisor to help us choose things to do and where to stay most of this trip. While perusing the best of's in Fort Bragg, I discovered a place called Piaci Pub & Pizzeria. We biked there for dinner. As we stood at the entrance and looked for a table among the jam packed bar and few community tables, a nice elderly mother and daughter and a jovial local beer guzzling family waved us over to sit in between them. If you can't tell, this place is a locals hangout. I'll tell you about our food and I'll let Andy tell you about our magical conversation.
It turns out that this place had the best food we've eaten all trip. We started with an arugula salad with blackberry vinegarette, the softest and most succulent feta cheese and local ripe tomatoes topped off with pine nuts. I think this is one of the first salads Andy has raved about! Then comes the pizza, we split a medium (back home at Pizza Vendor this size would be called a small). Half was called the "Farmers," house made sausage, caramelized onions and gooey mozzarella cheese. The other half was sundried tomatoes, olives, onions and pepperoni topped with basil. My favorite part was the crust; a perfect mix of NY style and the thin pizza vendor style.
This day has been the best day in California yet!
Ali
