The flight out to San Francisco was long and mostly uneventful with the exception of the guy sitting next to us making me nervous with his jitteriness.…turns out he was just jonesing for a smoke; quite the relief.  Flying over the Rocky Mountains was the highlight of the 4 hour 23 minute flight.  Delta had us on time from gate to gate.  After snagging our luggage, Thrifty had our car ready and waiting and we were off to check in to our hotel for the evening to catch some shut eye.

This was my first time staying at a Holiday Inn Express and I don’t intend for it to be my last.  The employees at the front desk were friendly and efficient.  Our room had a king size bed, granite counter tops in the bathroom, a flat screen TV, free WiFi, microwave, coffee maker, and mini fridge.  I had the best sleep that I’ve had in a long time.

The free continental breakfast blew my socks off.  I was expecting sub-par fruit and cereal.  What was awaiting us were two kinds of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, 4 kinds of cereal, milk, 3 kinds of juice, water, coffee, hot tea, oatmeal, muffins, and bagels.

We left Holiday Inn Express as the sun rose over The Bay and started the drive down to Big Sur.