Posted by Karen on 20-Jun-2010
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Lori and I took a Sunday drive today to Marin County to see what there is to see. Our first stop was at the Marin County Civic Center, which was closed, but the outside of the building is still very interesting to check out. The building was designed by the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957, near the end of his life. The building is huge and hard to get a photo of the entire thing, but there are numerous architectural details that catch the eye and the camera. Our next stop was as the Marin Art & Garden Center, which is a tucked-away jewel of flowers, gardens and art to explore. Our last stop of the day as at the Railroad-Ferry Museum in Tiburon, where I learned that Tiburon, at one time was more than million-dollar views, it was a railroad town. On the hilltop we found Old St. Hilary’s Church, an old church in the Carpenter Gothic style built in 1886. We end our day down to the center plaza and docks of Tiburon, enjoying the San Francisco skyline and the fascinating wave sculpture and fountain named “Coming About“.
Posted by Karen on 15-May-2010
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After enjoying all the wood carvings and kissing the bear, Pauline and I took a left turn and headed towards the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park and the coast. Sinkyone is one of the most remote state parks I’ve visited; to reach the north entrance of the park you traverse through the mountains of the King Range Conservation area and the last 3.5 miles are a narrow, winding pot-hole-filled dirt road. Pauline was a trooper and didn’t show any nervousness peering down the steep embankments on her side of the SUV, but she did show excitement when she spotted the heard of Roosevelt Elk below us. We arrive at the visitor center and after a nice chat with the park hosts, we enjoy lunch in the barn protected from the ocean breeze. Afterwards, we continued along the coast road and when it ended, we hiked down to Bear Harbor, a tiny black sands beach that’s very pretty. We explored it for awhile, enjoyed talking with some folks that were camping out there and then as we were leaving, Pauline, said get ready to take the picture when I fall into the water while crossing this creek to get back out… I had the camera aimed, but she never fell, handled the log hopping like a pro actually! On the way out, we took the road past Shelter Cove to see the lighthouse and then it was back across the mountain to our campsite.
Posted by Karen on 23-Apr-2010
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This weekend took me back to the Castles & Kites Celebration in Bodega Bay. I met up with Tersha, Vic and Brianna at the campsites on the beach at Doran Regional Park. Funny it was at this festival last year that Tersha debuted her new popup trailer and this year she’s debuting an even better new one and I’ve now got a trailer now too… my how things change in a year. Friday was a lazy day spent hanging around camp, chatting, playing games and watching wind surfers learn to windsurf in the harbor (where the water is only a foot or so deep at low tide). Saturday morning before the festival, we took a walk along the beach and I enjoyed photographing some sand textures. It was much windier this year than last, and it didn’t seem that as many kites were being flown as last year, but it was still a nice and relaxing weekend. At the end of the afternoon, while the wind may have been a bit much for kites, it was just right for a guy kite surfing in the bay. Definitely coming back again, I really do enjoy this weekend.
Posted by Karen on 06-Mar-2010
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Lori and I headed to the coast for the maiden voyage of my new-to-me Aliner trailer. We camped at Half Moon Bay State Beach, which is camping right next to the ocean. Setting up the trailer was a breeze, even in the ocean breeze. After relaxing a bit, we headed north a few miles to enjoy sunset at the Point Montara Light Station, which was established in 1900. Back at camp, we just hung out and enjoyed a lovely spring weather evening and sounds of the ocean next to us. After breaking down the trailer Sunday morning, we did some tidepooling at the James Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach. Tidepooling is fun because you’ll never know what the ocean will reveal trapped in the rocks during low tide; I found one large starfish, several anemones, and pretty rocks. We enjoyed fresh fish and chips over at Princeton Seafood Company on Pillar Point Harbor and then we headed home feeling rested and refreshed.
