a wine country 4th of july

Thanks to a twist of luck due to some out-of-town friends, we found ourselves spending most of 4th of July week housesitting/dog-sitting in Sonoma. For five glorious days, we lived the suburban wine country life in the small town of Healdsburg. We had cocktails on the back patio. We grilled. We played with the dog. We went for hikes right outside our front door. We found a lake. And we spent the actual 4th at the fabulous pool at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.


From top left: You may assume these leafy vines are part of a winery, but it’s just a front yard in the neighborhood; our friends’ lovely back patio; the hilly view outside the front door; hiking; our charge – Bosco (he warmed to us); grillin’; homemade flatbread, grilled to perfection; the awesome, custom-made table with succulents and a space to hold cold drinks; this is what working from ‘home’ looks like in Sonoma; our discovery – Lake Sonoma – only a 15-minute drive from the house; the ‘beachy’ area we hiked down to on the lake; two views of Lake Sonoma from a lookout point; the pool at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery; celebrating the 4th of July

brotherly love

Apologies for my lack of posting! So far, summer has kept me away from the computer... a nice change. After a lovely 11 days at home in Missouri in late May, my little brother came to visit me in San Francisco, and we had a great time both in the city and at Lake Tahoe. I am happy to report that Lake Tahoe is just as glorious in the summer as it is in winter (as I knew it would be). We enjoyed a beautiful hike along Emerald Bay and some lakeside music on Commons Beach in Tahoe City.

Back in the city, a bike ride through Golden Gate Park was a nice ending to Lucas’s trip.


In San Francisco: a turtle swimming at the Palace of Fine Arts, next to the Exploratorium (above left); Lucas at the Exploratorium – an interactive science museum (above right)

In Lake Tahoe: Lower Eagle Falls (above left, middle and right); continuing the hike to Upper Eagle Falls (below left); Lucas and I at Upper Eagle Falls (below right); Upper Eagle Falls (further below)


Emerald Bay from the highway (above left); Lake Tahoe from Commons Beach (above right); Seb and Lucas jumping in freezing water (below left); beautiful, beautiful Lake Tahoe (below right)

Music on Commons Beach, Tahoe City (above left); clear blue water (above right)
Biking through Golden Gate Park: the Chinese pagoda in Stow Lake (below left); the plaza between the de Young Museum and the Academy of Sciences (below right)

a winter hike in pacifica

Pacifica is a pleasant little beachside town about 30 minutes south of San Francisco. It’s popular with surfers, Highway 1 road-trippers and bay-area hikers. Between Pacifica and the San Francisco Bay on the other side of the peninsula is a series of state and county parks with multiple hiking trails offering vast views of the Pacific, the bay and the city. Last week, Jen and I hit the Brooks Falls loop in San Pedro Valley County Park. The weather has been insanely nice the past week; while my fellow Missourians are dealing with bad driving conditions and gray skies, I’ve enjoyed impossibly clear days and 60+ temperatures. So sorry to gloat about the amazing weather, dear family, but these sunny days are well-deserved after relentless rain before and after Christmas. The upside? Rain makes things lush and beautiful. Flowers are blooming. Leaves are green. Sure, there are some normal trees with bare branches, as is expected in the winter, but the amount of flourishing fauna going on around here in the month of January astounds me. It makes for a beautiful hike.

groceries and a hike

Only in San Francisco is there a canyon behind the local Safeway supermarket. So last week, before doing my weekly grocery shopping, I jaunted out for a little hike in Glen Canyon. It’s not much by typical Bay Area hiking standards, but it’s pretty good for being in the middle of the city.

land's end

As I mentioned before back in August, the beautiful Legion of Honor museum in Lincoln Park, on the northwest edge of the peninsula that is San Francisco, boasts great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the beginning of the bay. What I didn't know until a few weeks ago is that there is a fabulous little hiking trail past the museum, along the edge of the water. It's called Land's End, and for good reason. You may be in a very large, bustling American city, but you wouldn't know it when you step onto the trail. We started at Point Lobos, where the historic Cliff House restaurant perches above the Pacific. We headed north, into Lincoln Park, and followed the trail as it curved east toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We were rewarded with fantastic views of the bridge from a lesser-seen angle. All this is right in the city. Who knew?

dias ridge trail

The beautiful November weather in the San Francisco area has allowed for more outdoor activities than I would usually partake in this close to Thanksgiving. One of my favorites is hiking, and the trails are endless. After reading in Sunset magazine that the Dias Ridge trail was an editor's pick in Marin County, my friend Jen and I headed over the Golden Gate Bridge to  Muir Beach to pick up the trailhead. We hiked mostly uphill for three miles, enjoying fantastic views of the Pacific Ocean and the rolling hills to the east, although the views would have been even more fantastic if it had been sunny. Alas, you can't have everything. The biggest perk to this particular trail is the cozy Pelican Inn that awaits you across the street from the trailhead when you get back down. Hiking six miles definitely deserves a pint of beer.

they call it mammoth for a reason

We are quickly checking more places off our list of must-sees in Northern California, and they are quickly getting more and more spectacular. Last weekend was Mammoth Lakes, and the quickest way to get to Mammoth from San Francisco includes driving right through the middle of Yosemite National Park, so that was a little bonus. The five-hour drive was turned into an eight-hour day-trip with a stop for breakfast at a cozy, small-town diner called the Mangy Moose in the random town of Manteca, California, and a hike in Yosemite to the Tuolumme Grove of Giant Sequoias. Highway 120 through the national park offers some awesome views of the mountain peaks and domes, particularly the famous Half Dome. Eventually we made it through Yosemite and down to the rustic town of Mammoth Lakes and our hotel, the Westin Monache Resort, where two outdoor hot tubs and a heated pool were waiting for us, surrounded by pine trees and Mammoth Mountain. As it's not quite ski season, but no longer summer, Mammoth Lakes is in a bit of a limbo, so with nothing really to do, we were forced to relax and enjoy the scenery. Tough job.

After lunch the next day at the very cute Convict Lake Resort, where we admired the golden leaves on the aspen trees and had homemade chili and, quite possibly, the best pulled pork sandwich I've ever tasted, we headed back the way we came, through Yosemite, though Manteca, across the Bay Bridge, and back to San Francisco. The only difference was the 10 minutes of snow that fell on us as we were waiting to enter Yosemite through the park's eastern gate....ski season is on its way.

The Western entrance to Yosemite National Park on Hwy 120

On our way down to the sequoias

Giant Sequoia

Giant Sequoia + tunnel

View over Yosemite from the highway

Another stunning view, with Half Dome in the background

Half Dome

Convict Lake

Convict Lake

Convict Lake

Convict Lake Resort

Aspen trees at Convict Lake

Snow at the eastern entrance to Yosemite