The Golden Gate Yet Again...

The following day, we drove yet again across the Golden Gate Bridge. This time our destination was the Marine Mammal Center, which was near Rodeo Beach where Jimmy and I had picnicked two days earlier.

First, we went to the Presidio Yacht Club to meet up with our old Hague friends Susan and Tenaya.

Susan wasn’t kidding when she said the restaurant was nothing fancy, but you couldn’t beat the view. Tenaya had really grown since we last saw her.

In Search of the San Andreas Fault...

After our hike, we drove to Point Reyes National Seashore to walk the Earthquake Trail in the hopes of actually seeing the San Andreas Fault. Turns out that while the fault is visible in aerial photos on Wikipedia, it is fully underground in the area we visited. However, there are blue poles designating where the fault lies.

There were also interesting signs along the 0.6 mile trail including one that explained that this fence was once continuous, but was separated by 20 feet after the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. After our short walk, we drove up to Point Reyes Station for an early dinner at a nice restaurant famous for its oysters that was recommended by some locals during our hike.

We managed to find a much less curvy road back south before finding ourselves once again at the Golden Gate Bridge, this time near sunset. A fitting ending to our Bay Area Getaway.

From the Pacific to Redwoods...

This was the view during lunch...

...with our path actually going off to the right and paralleling the ocean.

On a side note, I had a strange conversation that morning. When buying our picnic lunch at the bait shop in Sausalito, the salesclerk asked me, “What kind of weapon are you carrying?” I was shocked and confused, “Excuse me?” He repeated himself and pointed at my hash shirt. Apparently my bum pack covered up the final line, which said On-On so all he saw was, Keep Calm and Carry. Only in America would someone think that old British motto would be an endorsement for open carrying of guns.

Luckily, we didn’t encounter any guns on our hike, but we did get to see some redwood trees...

,...and a dramatic view of Stinson Beach as we made our way down the hill to complete our 10.5 mile (16.8 kilometer) hike.

More California Hiking...

The next morning we packed up, grabbed some breakfast in town and then headed towards Muir Woods to hike amongst the redwoods. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with this plan as the parking lots were already full. So we kept driving towards the coast.

We stopped at the Muir Beach Overlook, which was lovely, and then continued up the scary curves to Stinson Beach. After a quick drive around the small and funky beach town, we parked by the trailhead of the Matt Davis Trail in Mount Tamalpais State Park.

The trail was great with small waterfalls, forests, meadows and overlooks such as this. It was quite steep and predominately uphill, so I got some more practice with my walking poles.

We saw this critter along the way. After being scared while walking next to a ravine, I decided that our original plan of taking the Steep Ravine Trail back down to the beach probably wasn’t a very good idea. A park ranger suggested we take the gentler Dipsea Trail instead.

We enjoyed lunch on this special Welcome Home bench for veterans, which offered great ocean views.

Towards the Golden Gate...

Eventually, we made our way towards the Golden Gate. First we went to an overlook with lots of other tourists...

...then we climbed Slacker Ridge and had a viewpoint all to ourselves. Considering how steep it was, I definitely didn’t feel at all like a slacker.

Shortly after Slacker Ridge, we hit a particularly windy ridge. Apparently it must be windy there quite regularly as there was plastic coated steel cables set up to hold onto so we wouldn’t get blown off the ridge. This part of the trail shown was much more to my liking and gave me a chance to try out my walking poles.

Eventually we made it down to Sausalito. On our way to another seafood restaurant for dinner, we came across this fellow. At first glace you might think he was fishing, but he was actually flying a kite and allowed Jimmy a chance to try it. Our total hike was 17.6 miles (28.4 kilometers). What a great day!

Picnic on the Beach...

Soon after we reached our goal: Rodeo Beach, a wide sandy beach on the sand spit that separates Rodeo Lagoon from Rodeo Cove.

While Jimmy insisted on checking how cold the water was, I was happy just to take his word.

We enjoyed a nice lunch of vegan wraps and cheese & beer chips.

We came across a huge horse farm, where we fed a few horses.

Eventually we made our way to the Pacific Coast Trail which led to walking along this high and windy road, which I wasn’t very fond of.

Hiking in Sausalito...

The next morning we drove into town for breakfast and to pick up picnic supplies, then parked the car at the cottage and walked up the hill to begin hiking. The early part of the trail was full of dog walkers with many, many dogs. We eventually made our way past all the dogs as we headed up and over the hills in the distance.

Along the way, we caught some nice views down to Sausalito...

...including seeing a seaplane taking off.

Once we turned more inland, we saw just one bird of prey...

...and one field of poppies, the state flower.

When we saw this quaint building, we assumed it was a church, but it was actually the Marin Headlands Visitor Center where we picked up a trail map and got some advice from a ranger.

A Romantic Getaway in Sausalito....

After dropping Veronica off at the airport (she had to get back to England for a one-week field trip), Jimmy and I continued onto Sausalito, where we had booked a romantic getaway for two nights. We stayed in a brand new studio cottage. We especially loved the spa shower.

It was a small place, especially when the Murphy bed was down, but well planned out with lots of nice design touches. The owner was quite fascinating. He worked in TV news for years, both as a producer and on-air, and now has his own PR firm. Most interesting were his stories on how he broke the Guinness World Record for longest paper airplane flight.

That first night we walked into town for a nice waterfront seafood dinner after happy hour on our porch.

Fun with Their Aunties...

While Veronica and I had seen Eden the week prior when we met her and Alex with Dad and Ann for a great Mexican lunch, this was the first time that Ashlynn and Jimmy had seen her. She was proudly wearing the Scotland hat that we‛d given her a few years back.

After our walk, we went to a new restaurant that specializes in custom individual pizzas, which was very handy with our picky crowd. It was great to see Eden so happy!

Unfortunately, Ashlynn didn‛t have a chance to spend the night at Leigh‛s, but she did get to go out for lunch with her.

A Walk in a Nature Preserve...

It was sweet of Eden‛s colleague to take us on a nature walk.

The girls managed to look nerdy yet cool while carrying binoculars, although they didn‛t actually do any bird-watching along the way.

Jimmy was very excited when Cindy told him that picking oranges was allowed. If the size of his shirt is any indication, you can tell he got a bit carried away. They were delicious.

Although this area has been a nature preserve since 1975, this was the first time I‛d ever visited it. Glad to finally have a chance to enjoy this little bit of nature so close to where I grew up.

Helping Rescue a Dog...

The following day we went to visit Eden at work. She works part-time at the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society at McClellan Ranch Preserve, just down the street from our high school. After our tour of the building, a woman stopped us to ask if we knew who owned two dogs that were roaming around the field as her son was worried that they were lost.

Turns out they were only semi-lost, but Jimmy and Ashlynn helped prevent the dogs going to the pound. Jimmy  managed to flag down a city employee who was kind enough to follow one of the dogs home. A neighbor then came back and picked up the dog that stayed behind with Ashlynn. The owner later called to thank Jimmy and Ashlynn for their efforts.

Father-Daughter Photography Time...

No doubt that Veronica takes after her father in the love of photography and stubborn determination to get the desired shot.

While Ashlynn and I were still sleeping, Jimmy and Veronica had an early breakfast at an old-fashioned diner in San Francisco. That evening, we all went over to Ann’s best friend’s for a delicious three-course Easter dinner. I had to apologize to my dad for throwing a tantrum after he told me he didn’t want us to walk the one-mile to Leny’s house. Luckily we all saw the irony and humor in me stomping my feet while yelling ”I’m an adult and can do what I want.” More importantly, that was the only disagreement during the entire visit.

Sunrise over San Francisco...

Jimmy and Veronica headed out early on Easter morning to watch the sun rise over San Francisco. They got some pretty impressive photos.

While they practically had the roads to themselves that early in the morning, they clearly weren’t the only ones trying to capture that perfect shot.