Love all over the Land: West Cost Living (Cali Day 2)

After our amazing first day, I was ready to head out on another adventure, this time on the water. In that I had gotten a little bit of groceries the day before, we enjoyed our gluten-free cereal at home to ensure a little slower start in the morning. I dropped my hard working man off and headed out of town.

I had spotted this fun coffee drive through, so I needed to stop right? A renovated train cart was a novel idea with decent coffee to boot. Love the idea!

Then on to my next destination, Sausalito. I had bought a Living Social to do a kayak tour and I was hoping to do it that day but did not get clarification on that. So I spent a little time confused and a bit frustrated.

I decided to chalk that one up and enjoy what there was to see in the city. A breathtaking little town along the coast with awesome views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. I walked around quite a bit and got my bearings in the city. I tried to research more and visited the welcome center (all while enjoying my coffee of course....research). The town had a real European feel to it to me!

It is truly amazing how they built all of the homes up the side of the mountain. It makes driving the streets a little adventure, too!

Boats, boats and more boats. I wonder if this city has more boats than houses?

Found the Taj Mahal houseboat, the mother of all houseboats!

I thought it was a pretty crazy (esp. the price tag)! It is now privately owned so this was as close as I could get!

Another fun little stop along the water...

I spotted some military boats...

and one more shot to send to my littles before heading inside.

The Bay Model Visitor Center is a scaled model of the entire bay area (which I had no idea how huge it really was). At one time it was used to understand the water system in order to provide enough water for the growing communities around it.

While not the most beautiful of sites, it was interesting to see an overview of the bay that spans a couple of football fields in size.

With that I was ready for a change of scenery and headed to another site near by, Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

I was not entirely sure what was there but knew it had to be great...and it was!

There were several things to see including some past military items....like these Nike Missiles.

Some more hiking (but not quite as long as the previous day) with awesome views.

I was amazed to find that much of the mountain side was covered in different kinds of succulents.

I spied a little beach area...

and found a trail that lead down to it.

A fun little secluded spot that a few other people were enjoying (I tried not to focus on the guy that appeared to be in the nude).

I sat and enjoyed the scene briefly before my exploring side kicked in hard!

Up the stairs and I found another trail that led to some old (now decorated) barricades.

Then a great lookout spot to see the Golden Gate Bride in the distance.

The trial rounded to a light house (which was unfortunately closed).

However, it was a fun spot to see the sea lions swimming and basking in the sun below. They blend in pretty well....so they can be easily missed.

Thanks stranger for the non-selfie picture!

In the same area was the Marine Mammal Center, the largest marine mammal hospital in the world.

A pretty amazing facility filled with the rehabilitation of sea lions and other beached animals in the area.

I hung around listing to the volunteer explaining his tails until I got an unexpected text stating Beach would be done earlier than expected that evening!

Awesome! That meant that I would need to head out and get back to San Rafael to pick up my man and our dinner items that I got gotten the night before for an amazing picnic!

"I know it is direct sunlight Beach but just smile anyway!"

Not a bad view!

I was beyond excited to bring him to some of the highlights from my tracings so he could experience the awe as well!

And I got a hot guy to take a picture with!

We also made it to Muir Woods and, since it was after seven, it was free to get in (and had little other people....score)!

We enjoyed wondering around together and I was giddy that Beach could see a forest like this, as it was something on his list to do!

We didn't hike any long trails due to time but I showed him some of my spots from the previous day.

"I'm taking you to one more spot before we head home, OK. I think you will like it!"

I had had not quite made it here earlier in the day and was beyond excited that I could come with Beach in seemingly the perfect time of day!

We both were not expecting such a view and were caught off guard when we rounded the corner to see such. We, also, did not expect it to be so very windy, and thus, cold.