The City by the Bay

After a long drought (ok it was 5 months) I was itching to head out on vacation. I was looking for a place where there was a cluster of National Park sites so I could spend my time exploring and not driving. San Francisco fit the bill perfectly (although I still somehow ended up with almost 1,000 miles on my car :) ). I’d been in the area before for a quick work trip but didn’t get to see anything exciting so I was eager to head back and immerse myself. Part of that immersion was renting from airbnb for the first time. I was a little nervous but seeing the prices of hotels in the San Francisco area it made me more confident to find alternative methods of housing. I found a private garden level suite in a safe neighborhood with easy access to everything and it was perfect. It was nice to set up shop for a week and have a cozy place to come home to every night.

View from Montara

I flew into San Jose on Friday morning and took my time driving up the coast to San Francisco, stopping at a few sites in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. My first stop was Montara Mountain in the Rancho Corral de Tierra and it was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean!! The weather was warm and sunny and the ocean was perfectly blue. Alas it was freezing cold with deadly currents but I at least got to dip my toes in. I did a short walk overlooking the coast line and it was a beautiful introduction to the coast.

Mori Point

My next stop was Mori Point which had beautiful wildflowers. The scenery was spoiled however by the rotting carcass of a whale on the black sand beach. That wasn’t exactly how I envisioned seeing my first whale but it ended up being the only one I saw in my time in California so I guess it counts.

Dead whale on the beach in the distance

By the time I got to Milagra Ridge the clouds had started to move in so there wasn’t much of a view but I did get to see a deer. My last stop of the day was Fort Funston which apparently is known for its hang gliding but it was covered with clouds and the temperature had dropped 20 degrees so I headed to my garden suite to settle in.

Mori Point