Destinations

I feel so lucky to live near San Francisco so I can take advantage of the secret staircases spread throughout the city.  San Francisco is a walking town much the same as Paris is a walking town.

In the late 1980’s I discovered a book called “STAIRCASE WALKS IN SAN FRANCISCO” by Adah Bakalinsky.  Ever since discovering this book my friends and I drive to San Francisco once a month and take one of Adah’s staircase walks.  We can do one of the staircases in June and it looks completely different if we do it in January.  So, we try to not do them the same time of year.

San Francisco is a “walking city.”  Built upon 42 hills, it is surrounded by the Bay on the east, the Pacific Ocean on the west, a peninsula on the south and the Golden Gate Bridge on the north.  Within these confines, variety is constant.  Because of the hills you get breathtaking views of the city and the water, and the   hills accelerate changes in your perspective as one walks around corners or circles the ridges.  Some of the walks are quite strenuous, although I feel the terrific views justify the strain.

You simply cannot do the stairways without Adah’s book.  With book in hand we follow her guide and if we didn’t have the book we probably wouldn’t find most of the staircases as most are hidden and we are always so shocked when we look to our left or right and sure enough – there is a staircase taking us up or down to another street.

If you live near San Francisco or if you are visiting, all you need is two hours, a bottle of water and good walking shoes and you will have a wonderful time.

Thursday-
My artistically talented niece enjoyed our visit to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park to see the Dale Chihuly Exhibit. Even if you aren’t a fan of Chihuly, this is pure spectacle.  Hard not to say “wow!” at least a few times. Back to Marin for dinner at P.F. Chang’s in Corte Madera.

Friday -
There is historical significance at Angel Island State Park out in the San Francisco Bay: this location was home to Miwok Indians long before Westerners arrived, but is probably best remembered as an immigration center & later the sight of a detention center where Japanese Americans were interred during WWII. But we were seeking fresh air and exercise to ward off the addition of extra lbs which was a natural conclusion to all of this eating we’d been doing all week. So we took the 20 minute Angel Island Ferry ride from Tiburon and spent a couple of hours taking in the views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Mt Tamalpais and the boats on the bay while hiking at our individual levels of comfort. Angel Island also offers kayak &  bike rentals and a guided tour of the island by motorized trams.

Life is short, and this vacation even shorter.  So, we ate dessert - first! - at Double Rainbow where we got creamy cool ice-cream and hot fudge sundaes.

We had arrived at the last night we would spend together & had our farewell dinner at another local institution: Marin Joe’s.

Since no one had room for any more eating after this meal, we decided it was time for them to go home, which they all did the next day. But the memories that were created live on, and so do the extra pounds we acquired…..so worth it!

Monday-
for views of San Francisco while watching the boats come and go, lunch at Sam’s Anchor Cafe (in Tiburon) can’t be beat. Still serves the best Ramos Fizz.  Took a drive out to the coast. Spent a bit of time in the “western” town of Pt Reyes Station, gateway to Pt Reyes National Seashore. Drove out to the Pt Reyes visitor center and took the (short) Earthquake walk where you can still see evidence of the 1906 quake along the San Andreas fault line. Before heading back over Mt Tamalpais, we drove past the Bolinas lagoon and stopped to take a brief walk along beautiful Stinson Beach. A wonderful store in Pt Reyes Station: Toby’s Feed Barn. For Oysters, barbequed, broiled or raw: Farm House & Deli - Olema.

Tuesday-
A good alternative to often crowded Muir Woods in Mill Valley is Armstrong Redwood State natural Reserve in Guernville (Sonoma County). Flat trails made it easy even for the octogenarian in our midst to take a walk amongst the redwoods. From here, we headed east to Safari West in Santa Rosa. Reservations are required for a 2 1/2 - 3 hour Safari offered at 9:00 am, 1:00 pm, or 4:00 pm. Optional BBQ lunch and/or dinner is available at an extra charge.  It is possible to spend the night in one of the several luxury tents scattered around this Wildlife preserve, which I’ve been told triples ones fun (as well as cost).  Even for me, who has had the privilege of traveling to Africa on multiple occasions, this safari tour is a lot of fun.  We saw giraffes, wildebeest, cheetahs, exotic birds, and even white rhino!

Later, we opted for dinner nearby at Cricklewood  in Santa Rosa. Somehow, eating meat while about to view animals at the preserve wasn’t all that interesting to my vegetarian niece.

Wednesday-
The mountain was a huge hit with my nephew, and so we returned to spend a bit more time and to go for a hike. We had fabulous weather the entire week, but this day was truly glorious. The boy was happy! Mt Tam lunch at Mt Home Inn.

To be continued…