The Best Valentine's Weekend Ever!- part one

A month or so ago, Ed told me that I should make sure to leave the weekend after Valentine's day open. He refused to tell me much more than that. The day before we were going to leave, he gave me a hint of what to pack: something for walking around, comfy shoes, something for going out, running gear, and trail shoes. That last item let me know that this was going to be a great weekend.

We left around 11:30 so that we could hit the first stop in time for lunch. We headed up highway one for some spectacular sights that reassured both of us that we wanted to continue living in Calfornia and near the coast for as long as humanely possible.
Having grown up around the relatively calm waters of southern california, the rough surf up here constantly amazes and awes me.



Around 1pm we made our way into Half Moon Bay. So far, my predictions were correct. We went to a great, casual seafood place for lunch called Sam's Chowder House where I got what has been touted by the Today show as "one of the five best sandwhiches in america": The lobster roll. It was wonderful!
I hadn't ever been to Half Moon Bay, so it was great to go to a new place, especially one so beautiful.
This, however, was not our final destination. My inkling was that we were headed to San Francisco, as we had talked about visiting there before. As we continued north on the one, things seemed to be falling into place, though those trail shoes were making me think that perhaps it was not a city we were going to after all.

Our continued drive up the coast took us by the famed "Devil's Slide" area, which has pretty spectactular cliffs and drop offs. The are in the middle of building a tunnel to go through devil's slide, so that the highway would no longer go on this apparently treacherous section!

On we went, until Daly City came into view, with its very familiar look
At this point there were two options for where we were going, in mind mind. San Francisco was just feeling less likely, in part because we hadn't left until relatively late. If were were going to go to the city, we wouldn't have been able to do anything that first day. There was, of course, lots of traffic going through the city on this gorgeous day. As we came close to a key part of highway one, Ed tried to trick me a few times. Soon, however, we crossed over the famous bridge and there was no doubt that San Francisco was not the final destination.
As we made our way up north of San Francisco, I was fairly positive I knew where we were going. I had to bite my tongue to not give him directions, since I knew this area a lot better than him, but I kept playing along :) Soon we were off on the Stinson Beach exit and heading up toward Panoramic Highway. I was now certain and incredibly excited. Once we pulled up, I knew this was going to be a great weekend.


Ed had taken me to the beautiful and amazing Mountain Home Inn, a small (there are only 10 rooms in the place!) but amazing Inn smack dab in the midst of Mt Tamalpais, my favorite place to run in the word. I had told Ed a lot about Mt Tam and how much I wanted to take him there someday, and was so thrilled that we were going to get a day and a half of amazing beauty.

Our room was perfect, small and cozy (no tv!) but with gorgeous views of Marin, including the bay (essentially ocean and forest views from the room...amazing!)
Of course, we hadn't come to Mt. Tam to just sit around the room (especially with the increasingly daylight that we're getting now that its going into Spring again), so, after browsing the books and map that were in the hotel room, we decided to go on a few mile jaunt to seek out San Francisco views....

to be continued...

(promise, part two will include actual trails :D)