Bay Area

Matt blending in at the Berkeley Rose Garden.

We covered a lot of territory in three days: San Jose, Berkeley, San Francisco, Marin and Muir Woods. Like Los Angeles--like most US cities--you need a car to explore more than one part of the Bay Area. We stayed with friends from the Judge Business School who have now returned to their home in Berkeley , and we were able to visit my friend Amy, whom I met in seventh grade, who now lives in San Jose with her husband and baby girl.


Amy, Brooks and their daughter; Nik and Jen made sure we had the trolley experience.


Nik arranged a dinner at the landmark Fairmont Hotel's Tonga Room restaurant, where it rains inside.

We also experienced the many climate areas: Marin was in the 50s, while inland was close to 90 degrees. Muir Woods National Monument, the world's most visited redwood park, is situated on the Marin Peninsula just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It is also just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. Between our visits to the redwoods and the beach, we stopped off at the Pelican Inn, an English pub "nestle(d) at Muir Beach in the sea-blown fog, among the pines and the alders, the honeysuckle and the jasmine."



I think Matt's favorite part of the day was the plethora of lichen in the park; he kept teasing me by calling it old man's beard--a common name for a type of lichen that I sometimes take in a tincture when I'm not feeling well. My favorite parts were watching the dramatic fog rolling in, absorbing a feeling of calmness and quietness imparted by the redwoods, and happening upon some fearless deer.


Matt examining his lichen, and a buck shows off his good side.


Muir Beach.