Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Point Reyes
Click to enlarge
Oh my goodness, what a phenomenal day and evening. We spent most of the day on Point Reyes about an hour north of San Francisco. A big thank you to the National Park Service, US Department of the Interior for protecting Point Reyes seashore. This entire area is protected by the National Park Service so there are no beach mansions or hotels here. There are Just miles and miles of wild coastline and some historic ranches (protected by the park service). I've always known about the National Parks but I had no idea about the National Seashore, what great planning all those many years ago. If you want to see unimaginable beauty in this country, the National Parks and Seashore is definitely the way to go. The coastline is simply stunning and today I had my camera aimed charged and ready to shot. We spent most of our time on Drakes Bay walking along the beach and taking in the breath taking scenery. I snapped many pictures but not a single photo captured the honest beauty of this place. We played Frisbee on the beach for at least 30 minutes getting in a little cardio exercise and having some laughs. We hiked through brambles and wildflowers up a sea cliff where we got more amazing views of the sea. After our time at Drakes Bay we drove about 20 minutes to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. The lighthouse is closed on Tuesdays but visitors are still able to get a close look at the lighthouse but cannot enter it and climb up the stairs. Driving through this area you really can't believe you're in the US much less California; it really was like going back in time or traveling in a foreign country. All day John had talked about how much he wanted oysters and we even stopped before we reached Drakes Bay to get some but the place he was thinking of only sells them on the weekends. So after the lighthouse we tried again to get John some oysters. We went to the town of Point Reyes Station to a quaint place where he ordered a dozen oysters and a grape soda. I ordered a beer and tried the oysters but didn't like them and found the beer undrinkable. John was in hog oyster heaven and seemed really happy when I declined a second helping. We got back to the Olema Inn where we caught up on emails and relaxed for couple hours before dinner. I wanted to treat John to a really nice dinner and the Olema Inn has a highly regarded restaurant so it was decided that we would dine here tonight. John ordered hog island oysters, Parmesan Gnocchi with locally grown mushrooms, and asparagus for his main course, and a glass of champagne.I had the roasted beet salad, Beef Short Rib Bourguignon with pearl onions, baby carrots, local mushrooms, Neuske's bacon, pasta. and a glass of merlot. For dessert we shared something called cookies and cream but it was actually an oatmeal cake with vanilla ice cream. The dinner was out of this world amazing and I would rank it among the top 10 meals I've had in my lifetime. We are really ending this leave of absence on a high note. What an amazing day and evening.
http://theolemainn.com
http://www.theolemainn.com/menua.html
Labels:
Drakes Bay,
Point Reyes,
restaurant,
The Olema Inn,
travel,
vacation
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