Vacation Day 1: The North Bay

Prologue: Anne and Jordan arrived last Friday night from St. Louis via Phoenix. We chatted for a bit and then they crawled into the airbed. Jordan had a bit of a cold so ended up sleeping more upright in the chaise. Those two could sleep through anything and can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I wish I could.

Saturday: We completed my normal Saturday routine of the farmers' market, Trader Joe's and the library and grabbed a bite at home before heading north. Our list for the day was Point Reyes National Seashore, Muir Woods and the Golden Gate Bridge.

After weeks and weeks of rain, and more threatened for the day, we had the clearest day I can remember. Everywhere we looked on our drive up the East Bay and over the Richmond bridge we could see forever. And it was green! The hills of the North Bay were like a painting and the sky was so high.

We got to the turnoff for Drake's Bay and didn't believe the sign that we couldn't go any further. We only got as far as the road to the South Beach when we were turned back. On the weekends they have shuttles to ferry visitors out to the lighthouse because of limited parking and the vulnerability of roads after so much rain. I'd never been to the visitors' center at Drake's Bay so I was glad we had to go there. Though I wasn't so glad to be in a huge bus going over narrow roads.

The views of the coastline were amazing. I'd been out to the lighthouse a couple times and I'd never been able to see the ocean below. We got to the observation deck and the guide alerted us that a whale had been sighted and would resurface in a few minutes. We waited and watched where she told us to look for the spout and sure enough we saw one. Our first whale of the trip!

We decided to forego the hundreds of steps down to the lighthouse itself (and then back up) and wanted to avoid catching the last shuttle of the day which was sure to be crowded. Plus, we thought we might still be able to hit Muir Woods before it closed. Unfortunately our bus driver informed us that it closed at 5. We would never make it. Especially after driving along Highway 1 down the coast. It was slow going with all the slippage on the road from the rain. Good thing Anne was driving!

We finally made it down to the Golden Gate Bridge and parked on the northwest side where you get to walk directly underneath the bridge to get to the pedestrian walkway on the east side of traffic. Anne wasn't too sure she like that much traffic right over her head.

With it being the first beautiful day in a long time I wasn't surprised to see a lot of people out on the bridge near sunset. We walked out to the center of the bridge where the cable is at its lowest point and then walked back. So you could say we walked the entire distance of the bridge. The day was still super clear and the views of San Fran were excellent. I think I could even see home.

By the time we left the bridge, we were pretty hungry so when I saw an In-N-Out Burger, I yelled for Anne to stop and she made it safely across several lines of traffic so we could eat at the classic California burger joint. I even ate the fries (they're so good!).

Even with the disappointment of not seeing Muir Woods, it was an excellent beginning to what promised to be a great week.