Half Moon Bay

My Mom's visit was coming to an end and I haven't had the chance to take her around because I've been caught up with work. One good thing about SF is that there are plenty of places to see. Mom doesn't like windy road and far off places that requires her to be in a car for a long period of time. If you have kids who get restless on long trips, I have an older version in the person of my Mom. It's the are-we-there-yet? question coming from the backseat.

So we decided to have brunch in Half Moon Bay, it's a small town SW of SF. It is a far cry from the bustle of the city that is practically next door. If SF's real estate is outrageous, you'd be paying premium price to build one here because of the spectacular ocean view.

We tried to have brunch at the Ritz Carlton hotel that was recently built a few years ago on top of a cliff near the coast. We get there and we were greeted by the maître d', who asked us if we had a reservation--we didn't. Totally unplanned, I didn't realize it would be a popular place for brunch. The headwaiter was really nice, even gave me his card, informed me that they usually get booked a month ahead and-- that the brunch is $65 a head (what?!!!). There were four of us that day, if it weren't for the early reservation that would have been at least a $260 hole in our pocket! I can picture my Mom behind me cringing and calculating the total in her head. H thinks the price was fine ONLY because he sees a table full of scrumptious sushi, I think I was very lucky that I wasn't compelled to pay an exorbitant price for one unplanned trip.

After exploring the hotel's grounds and after walking along the boardwalk for some pics, we ended up eating at a Hawaiian joint along Highway 1 for a fraction of that the price.

Copyright 2004 Wandertrekker