Just north of SF

Today’s SF adventures took my daughter and me north of the city across the Golden Gate Bridge. This was one of those trips that helped me understand why Californians never want to leave.

We started off in the farmers’ market in Sebastopol just as it was opening. It seemed to be a weekend celebrating heirloom tomatoes in all colors, shapes, and sizes.



Whoever heard of chocolate at a farmers’ market? We chose the rosemary goat cheese variety.




We couldn’t pass up a suckling pig tamale that came with a wonderful salad with spicy onions and rice.



From the market we went to visit the Armstrong Woods Redwoods, where we saw trees as old as 1300 years. It’s a little mind-boggling when you think about it.




We continued westward along the Russian River toward the coast. We couldn’t resist smoked salmon from a little roadside stand.




The first views of the Pacific Ocean are absolutely breathtaking. We sat on some driftwood on Goat Rock Beach and ate our lunch, which included little yellow tomatoes, sage goat milk cheddar, and our smoked salmon, with a white peach for dessert. Rachel walked down the beach to look at some seals while I stayed behind to be entertained by a seagull.





We continued on down the coast on a very windy road in search of oysters at Tomales Bay. We bought 18 beautiful big oysters and I taught Rachel how to shuck them. With a little hot sauce and lemon, they were simply delicious.





We stopped for a drink out on the porch of the Starfish Cafe in Stinson Beach before heading home.

We were constantly noticing the many shades of greens and browns that made up the various landscapes of our trip, as well as the blues and greens of the water. It was those variations as well as the 20-degree temperature shift that reminded us just how diverse California can be even in a small geographic area.

Although we never made it to a winery today, we had a day full of beautiful sights, sounds, and smells.