The Big 100

As I was working on this latest posting , I happened to notice that it's my 100th addition to this blog. For anyone who knows of my, decidedly undeveloped, skills in the realm of stick-to-itiveness, it's quite a revelation. I suppose I should devote this post to some great over-arching statement or theme, but I'm at a loss for what that might be. It'll come to me eventually and I'll wax philosophically at some future date, I'm sure. In the meantime, I want to encourage people to visit the Crown Jewel of the Bay Area's parks: Point Reyes National Seashore. I've been exploring the park for years and I still have my breath taken away by its incredible and varied beauty. Limantour beach is unrivaled for shear gorgeousness, wildness and scale by few beaches in the world, but not one, to my knowledge, is so close to a major city. AND you can pretty much have the place to yourself on a weekday. From thousands of feet in the air, when I'm arriving home from overseas, at the end of a 14 hour flight, it's the sight that thrills me most and makes me happy that I live here. The Great Beach to the north is 11 miles of undeveloped beauty that Southern Californians can only dream of (they have perfectly beautiful beaches down South, they just happen to have far too many McMansions glowering over them).

Of course, it's just one place in this very large National Park. Everyone has their favorite spot. You could spend weeks exploring and never run out of adventures. I had the pleasure of strolling down the 309 stairs to the lighthouse last weekend (and the chore of hiking back up 309 stairs). The color of the ocean was incredible and the view of the Farallon Islands was unmatched (a woman next to me asked her companion, jokingly I hope, if they were the Hawaiian Islands). Even the lichen was amazing!

Adjacent to the Park Visitor Center, Earthquake buffs can check out the earthquake trail at what was the epicenter of the 1906 'quake and, on the way to the lighthouse, oyster fans can eat their fill at the oyster farm. Of course, there's Drake's Bay, where pirate, adventurer and all-around swashbuckling guy, Sir Francis Drake dropped anchor in 1579 and claimed this part of the world for England. He called it New Albion; we don't.