Yeah I understand it didn't sky rocket up but its never has done this. Also the AC was on but I turned it off and miles down it happened again in between Ptown and Castro Valley; understandably it was still a bit hot in there but again never before. I've had several trips with steeper/longer climbs uphill & with an AC on and never had an issue.

So maybe it was a raise in temperature under normal operation or maybe something is not all too correct.

Exactly. My coolant issues in the past were do to a punctured hose (upper) and not properly burping the system upon refill (system pretty much emptied out on me). That ended up being flushed out and properly purged of air when doing an early 90K maintenance.

 

If you're seeing bubbles, and it was burped correctly, you could have a small headgasket leak which is only opening when it's under load. Hopefully it's not that.

Another thing to check is your fan operation to make sure they're turning on, you can put your car in test mode to check.