San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond

Excellence, elegance, and style were the three main ingredients of our impression of the Park Hyatt. The Park Hyatt is the gateway to a shopping, restaurant, and business complex anchoring the western end of the
Embarcadero Center at the intersection of Clay and Battery Streets. It’s connected by walking bridges above the streets to the four skyscrapers of the EC, which march to the water’s edge and stand sentinel over San Francisco Bay.

Park Hyatts are designed to cater the executive traveler during the week, so weekend rates are
priced well, making it one of the finer escapes the city has to offer without incurring a Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons dent to the pocketbook. King accommodations ranged in the 200’s depending on the view, floor, and the season, versus mid 300-400 dollar ranges of comparable hotels and Union Square boutiques. And, of course, enjoy complimentary tea or coffee and newspapers in the marble lobby every morning.

Luxurious hospitality greeted us from front door to room door. We were inspired by the stunning display of contemporary architecture. Simple and elegant, the marble, granite, and glass beyond the front door lends definition to the lobby, and hence, expectations. The distinctive experience of the staff’s personal attention to detail and service—our car doors being opened by a valet and the trunk by bellhop in concert with doormen’s bows, reception-desk greetings, and concierge smiles—are only exceeded by the stunning vistas of the water from Bay-view rooms.

Rooms are meticulously clean, with in-room dining, high-speed Internet, WebTV, and pay-per-view movies. Windowed walls of glass provide dreamland views of the bay, city, and bridges upon walking in as well as waking. The beds, with European pillow-top mattresses, allowed us to sink into nothing less than a cloud that evening! Upon waking to such overwhelmingly beautiful views—you gaze out the windows from bed wondering if you’re still dreaming.

The Park Grill, locally acclaimed as one of the "great secret quiet spots" to eat in this city, offers a unique presentation of American cuisine coupled with fine selections of Napa, Sonoma, and international wines. A dining terrace adjacent to the sky-bridge connecting to the second level of Embarcadero Center is available too.
It is a great venue for an evening cocktail surrounded by the lights of the city’s towers, for weary travelers arriving late and preferring to not leave the hotel the first night, or perhaps for a Sunday brunch.

This sleek hotel’s location is at the virtual hub of several downtown districts—the Financial District, Barbary Coast, Chinatown, North Beach—defining San Francisco’s signature architectural juxtaposition of old meets new. For a luxurious and distinctive visit on the San Francisco Bay, make Park Hyatt a choice.

When the weather in the Pacific Northwest turns nice during the short interludes between winter and spring rains, day trips are the perfect cure for the season’s cabin fever. It reminds us of a stock market that can plummet for weeks and have a spectacular up-day, sucking investor mentality into false hopes of better days ahead. Sucker or not...no better day than today to invest in a fast road trip. Such is the mind frame you must have this time of year in the Bay Area.

There are few things as relaxing as a drive north from San Francisco on the Pacific Coast Highway, Route 1. It is a spectacular way to see the coast and experience West Marin; especially with weather in the 70’s, brilliant sunshine and the top down. Not many places to do that in the first week of March .

There are several ways to get to Tomales Bay’s Oyster Country. Heading due west through San Rafael via Fourth Street (Central San Rafael Exit) continue that bearing on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. If you are coming from the North on Highway 101 this probably works best. If you are coming from the south, then the San Anselmo/Richmond Bridge exit will do you even better. Bear left towards San Anselmo and stay on Sir Francis Drake. You avoid having to circumnavigate Mount Tam, Muir Woods, Stinson Beach and save an hour of winding roads. Not that the winding roads don't offer one of the most panoramic and awe-inspiring drives in the country but today time is part of the essence. This day trip is about oysters, old country stores, and small towns along the way.

Take Sir Francis Drake through San Anselmo, Fairfax, Woodacre, Nicassio, and a host of really cool small hamlets we pierce through a band of Redwoods in Samuel P. Taylor Park. One minute the sun blares and glares (definitely get a pair of polarized lenses for this trip) and in the next instant you are enveloped under the cool canopy of the tallest trees in the world. Redwoods dim daylight and the mood is set by an effervescent green light, glowing fairy-like while the temperature immediately drops about 10 degrees. Mark this place for return, to barbeque away a scorching summer day. There are fresh water streams to cool off in between bites of burgers too.

The shady respite of mighty redwoods are soon left behind. We push forward on a narrow ribbon of road winding evermore west. Passing a llama farm and then rounding the last set of rolling hills we run out of road in Olema, California.

Olema is an incredibly quaint town drawn and quartered by the intersection of Route 1 and Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Make a right and pass the gates of Pt. Reyes National Seashore on the left. Next stop is Pt. Reyes Station, a small coastal hamlet and last chance for gas for a while. Stop in grab great coffee and carbo-load at the Bovine Bakery 11315 Highway 1 Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

Toby's Feed Barn (just a block before the Bovine) on Route 1 delivers a Rockwellesque feeling as you walk up the wooden steps, and it delivers a tourist's menu of foods, condiments, souvenirs, and other things to tap your plastic. Don't miss the photography exhibit hall in the back. It is filled with award-winning views through various local artists' eyes.

Caffeinated and gassed up, we start to push north out of Point Reyes Station. The oyster beds of Tomales Bay lie to the left. Sun shining brightly overhead, the bay is a sky-blue water world between the gravel-gray, double yellow-lined Route 1 and the peninsula of Point Reyes National Sea-Shore. It runs approximately 20 miles parallel while cloaking the Pacific beyond with its tree-lined ridges. Every bend in the road takes the breath away. Rugged coastal cliffs serve as land's end to West Marin's coastal dairy pastures. Rolling green hills give way to grasslands flowing under the road, spilling off into the bay...

The trip is broken up into half-mile stopping segments as we approach Marshall, CA, population 50 and home of oyster-bed eateries. Each turnout becomes the stunning photo-op that great vacations or weekend getaways yearn to be. Misty peaks yield translucent for the camera as the morning fog lifts. The coastal mountains take a short swim into the Pacific beyond the ridge. Looking south towards the wetlands formed by Tomales Bay's foray inland, fisherman's boats roll gently in a warming sun.

It is hard to saddle back up. Thirty mph might as well be 75mph when moving through incredible country like this. There are plenty of hiking trails and horse stables nearby if inclined to spend more than the time allotted for the day's mission.

The pearls of this trip are not only in the oysters, but in the old ramshackle restaurants along Tomales Bay. Today's stop is part grocery and part indoor/outdoor oyster bar. The Marshall General Store nestles between the shoreline and the road. It is built on stilts and flanked by embankments of 5 feet of discarded shells of patrons like us! Once inside and then out a door behind the cash register, you hap upon a huge barbeque grill in a small garden. You can eat here with a couple of the owner's pet turtle and have a full view of the boats, bay, birds, and mountains beyond.

We opted for the narrow band of wooden decking along the outside back wall of the store with the same view. Locals sit at a few small tables or stretch out in a couple of Adirondack chairs reading paperbacks or the news. You are now sitting in some of the most well-known, well-traveled, and most often visited boondocks in the country. As if to reassure us of the surrealism here, we noted the local weekly paper’s headline and page one breaking news story of a wild turkey that hit a power line. Depriving the majority of residents in several towns of electricity, it nourished itself on 120,000 volts but did indeed survive. This is a tree-huggers paradise or fodder for a Stephen King novel. We decided to keep conversation among ourselves.

All this and more while you suck down gigantic freshly shucked raw and barbequed sweetwater oysters. There is no escaping it, figure a dozen and a half per person, and when done, you leave still wanting more... of everything. Three dozen oysters and beverages should run about $50 to $60, but the million-dollar views are free.

And now the secret. What you can’t see beneath the surface of this rustic building, just as you can’t see the millions of oysters beneath the surface of the bay, is the operation of one of the largest oyster farms in the country. The Marshall General Store was purchased in 1982 by Michael Watchorn and John Finger. They fell in love with the history of the hamlet, where, over 100 years ago, "trains chugged around Tomales Bay carrying passengers, lumber and barrels of East Coast oysters bound for the booming San Francisco Bay before being sold to restaurants" and founded the Hog Island Oyster Company. Taking years to perfect their farming techniques, the San Francisco Chronicle recently named the Hog Island Sweetwater, in blind taste testing, the Best American Oyster and received the Award of Excellence for Animal Husbandry from the American Institute of Food & Wine. Hog Island delivers over 3 million oysters a year to the marketplace. Depending on your time parameters, your next stop can be at the farm itself just another turn up the road from the general store. Click here for Oyster info . Okay, so it is not exactly the boonies.

We begin our trip back, and it was as beautiful as the trip here. I wanted to head south at the intersection in Olema and take Route 1 through Stinson Beach. The sun and the temperature had other ideas for us. After all those raw oysters, a great sushi meal makes great justification for getting home early. Just to be fair to ourselves, of course.

Tips and Suggestions:
Distance from San Francisco is about 50 miles.

Distance from San Rafael is about 37 miles.

Plan about 5 to 7 hours depending on how long you want to dawdle in the great towns along the way!

Bring a light jacket and sweater, as the coast can get chilly, even in summer.

If you forget a camera, turn around and start over!

Exploring lush Marin County, just north across the Golden Gate Bridge, is one of the quintessential experiences of any trip to San Francisco. Driving the first few miles into Marin on a sunny day with a camera is an aesthetically divine activity in itself. What you first notice is the multitude of outstanding views of the peninsula that forms the North Bay. You make your way out of the city north on Highway 101—a ribbon of road threading from the bridge at the southern tip of the peninsula to the north, approximately 30 miles to the Sonoma county line. Drive across the Golden Gate while the steep cliffs and high hills of the Marin Headlands —towering hundreds of feet above the bridge—welcomes you to a vastly different world than San Francisco. The bridge—in all its splendor and gargantuan size—is immediately put into perspective, dwarfed by this rugged coastline. This merits our first stop and one of the most incredible photo-ops of the day.

Take the first exit off the Golden Gate Bridge, Alexander Avenue, after the Vista Point turnout. Make a left under the highway and follow it around, bearing right up the mountain on Conzelman Road. Bastions of former coastal defenses spanning the Civil War through the Cold War line the ride to the top. Stop and explore these military fortifications dug deep into the rock. Look down the sides of this coastal mountain that find their roots in the crashing white waves of the Pacific below. One of the most spectacular views in the world lies before you as you gaze above or through the cables of the Golden Gate at the city. Part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and stupendous hiking and biking trail heads begin here, too. Follow this road to the top and let loose your camera on 360-degree views of the Bay area and out to sea. There are many old large gun emplacements and bunkers to explore before descending back down to the highway. The coast and skyline of San Francisco bring deep appreciation to why our city is truly the American Mediterranean.

On the road heading north, you pierce through the solid rock of the Headlands via the Rainbow Tunnel, named for the rainbows painted above its entrances. Like Alice falling through the looking glass, another world is set before you. Cresting the last rise, the car hugs wide and forgiving curves after exiting the tunnel. Just when you thought the views couldn’t get any better, the deep blue of the bay lies off the ridge to your right, hundreds of feet below the rooftops of Sausalito hill dwellers; in front of you is the majestic Mount Tamalpais , the highest mountain point in the area, as well as the 11 city-villages of Marin nestled in the green and former Licatiut and Miwok American-Indian paradise.

The San Francisco skyline is the traveler’s companion for the first few miles. The city-towns of Sausalito, Tiburon, Belvedere, Corte Madera, and Larkspur Landing host waterfront views and provide the ultimate in lodging, dining, and viewing pleasures. Beams of early day sun shine directly on the east face of Mount Tam, creating a soft and billowy look to her southern contours. As Apollo rises and climbs above and behind it during his chariot race across the day sky, he carves her features sharply with every falling shadow. In the evenings, reflections cast by the same sun on the Golden Gate Bridge sizzle silently in to the depths of a blue Pacific. On the western side of the peninsula, oceanscapes along the coast are awe-inspiring from Route 1; The Coastal Highway. The scenic life in Marin is beyond comparision.

Commuter-friendly communities are clustered close along the highway, and navigating from one to the other is easy. There are also the many back roads connecting towns that originally were horse, buggy, and wagon trails better than 100 years ago. The hills are verdant or golden, season depending, and 75% of the county is open space regulated. Leave the highway corridor and much of the woods are still unchanged from when Sir Francis Drake and the crew of the Golden Hinde set foot here in 1579. There is a statue across from the Larkspur ferry terminal in a cove where he may have landed. The main route from this point, through many of the towns and redwoods, west to the ocean, is aptly named after him. Following Drake Boulevard provides another awesome day trip to West Marin and the Point Reyes National Seashore area.

A mile north in San Rafael is where the first Spanish settlement and Mission San Rafael Archangel —the church is still in operation today—were founded in 1817. In June, the Italian Street Painting Festival takes place here for a weekend. Hundreds of artisans utilizing chalk create masterpieces on the street, many of museum quality. Live music, food courts, and the city’s merchants play host to a fantastic community event.

Marin is renowned for its outdoor activities. The mountain bike was born here, and there are hundreds of miles of designated on-and-off road biking trails. A relaxing and awesome day trip is Muir Woods, where hiking through the tallest trees in the world that are older than the Sistine Chapel is par for the course. Trails starting in a few towns allow you to scale over the top of Mount Tam to the ocean on the other side. Point Reyes National Seashore and coastal day drives are a half-hour to three-quarter-hour drive once you’re here.

Marin’s towns provide an excellent selection of restaurants, cafés, patisseries, convenient boutique, large anchor shopping, and more-than-ample parking. In all seasons, wine and film festivals, art fairs, and farmer’s markets entertain and provide festive street parties in famous Marin style. Though each town retains a distinct character that separates it from its neighbor, we are bound by the common thread of the privilege of living here and hosting our guests.

Let me give you a fast look at some of my favorite townships. Sausalito, from its history of rail and shipyard to the artisan’s colony and yachtsman’s paradise, provides spectacular city views. It is your first city over the bridge. You can shop Sausalito, also accessible by ferries out of San Francisco. A significant amount of commuters opt for their morning coffee and happy hour on the ferry's fantails to and from work in the city.

Tiburon and Belvedere are exclusive bayside living communities with a European feel, their waterfront lined with excellent bayside restaurants and cafés. Snack and sit before astounding views looking over the masts of many majestic sloops docked at the Corinthian Yacht Club. One of my favorite nice-weather activities is to pick up boxed lunches from one of the restaurants after renting a bike and cruise to Angel Island by ferry. Ride or hike the island, surrounded by the bay, for the day.

Mill Valley was originally named for its old sawmill. Best known for its Hansel and Gretel-like downtown, it is home of the Mountain Play, a century-old tradition each summer in an open amphitheater on the slopes of Mount Tam overlooking the ocean. I love having a cup of coffee or a bowl of soup at the popular Book Depository and Café, where an outdoor table game of backgammon and chess is usually underway. Part of town square, it was the railroad station that sent a train up and down Tam in an era gone by. The Mill Valley Film Festival, which has gained international recognition, screens premiers and for a week each fall, when Cannes comes west.

Corte Madera and its shopping malls are contrasted by the bird conservatory on the coast. San Quentin looms large in the distance at the base of the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge. Larkspur, a town that sleeps at the foot slopes of Tamalpais, is an idyllic place to stroll on cobblestone streets and browse beautiful boutiques. A few miles north of Mill Valley, mountain bikers find their way here for beverage breaks before or after a ride. Continue to Ross, where homes are mostly small estates with traditional-style architecture in the $2,000,000 to $10,000,000 price range--curb-side-view shoppers usually get a wave and smile from residents in expansive front yards.

The towns grow quieter the farther away from the highway you travel. Fairfax was originally part of a Spanish land grant and, like its neighbor,San Anselmo, which is recognized as the Antique Capital of the West, attracts many with Marin’s hillside living lifestyle. Views of Mt. Tam and easy access to West Marin and the ocean rule here. Houses here were originally summer homes for wealthy San Franciscans in the early 1900s. They too looked for an escape from the wintry conditions of San Francisco's summer, something that makes Marin’s warm-weather menu of day-trip options all the more special!

We toil all year, meeting deadlines, achieving business goals, and generally heaping an undo amount of stress on ourselves, just for a bit of free time. Unfortunately, when we finally earn our much-needed respite, we find today’s concept of a vacation something that has been canned, labeled, or wrapped in cookie-cutter ways for purchase.

Buy a cruise and you know what to expect for the amount you pay. Go to New York, LA, San Francisco, or any major city for that matter and you know which shows and what restaurants are definitely "not to be missed." There is always Las Vegas, where you can experience the above—Paris included—in a 3-block walk, all for one airfare. Just budget how much money you are willing to part with on the roll of the dice. The frenetic pace of "Your Vacation" doesn’t change if you leave the country either. Take a guided tour through Europe, rushing through a multitude of museums, castles, and battlefields, making certain not to miss your bus, plane, or train—the schedules tighter than the deadlines you raced against all year. "I need a vacation from my vacation." Sound familiar?

We were looking for a place where the world of deadlines and schedules melt away into quiet serenity and found it. The burgeoning resort industry has been spending hundreds of millions on in-resort spas so that we can experience mind and body revitalization, even if we have to squeeze it between all the must-sees and must-dos. Travelers and weekend vacationers are taking notice, making this segment of resort amenities one of the fastest growing in the leisure industry. There was a time when the spa environment was reserved by its pricing structure alone as a pearl for society’s gilt-edged class. But even the resort hotel spa experience can get costly and there is another way to do this—all without breaking the bank. It is the world of hot springs and spas. One such place to mark in the day-planner, if you have the yearning to "head west and seek your solitude", is Wilbur Hot Springs and Spa. We did and will return again and again.

Wilbur Hot Springs was an unforgettable, impressive, and affordable destination, and only a 2-hour drive northeast out of San Francisco in Williams, California. Piercing through a significant part of wine country and then a petrified forest as well, we found that this idyllic vestige of a true hippie commune comes of baby-boomer age nestled amongst the hills on a couple of 1,000 acres in the middle of practically nowhere. Wilbur turned out to be a perfect blend of retreat and resort, where we incorporated a holistic approach to our vacation. Soothing mineral waters, a rustic yet charming Victorian hotel, a place to truly connect with nature, along with yoga classes, massage, and other activities, defined Wilbur Hot Springs as the unique retreat we sought but didn’t realize it until we found it. Summer season at Wilbur delivers Northern California’s ideal weather—heat and low humidity in daytime and the cool evening nights. Soaking away stress and rediscovering the meaning of solitude and serenity, while the hectic pace of day-job life melts away, comes very easily here.

The understanding we have today of proper dietary and nutritional intake, aerobic awareness, and the embracing of exercise as daily life rituals continues to lend to extended longevity. We all want to capture and accumulate more of the most valuable asset we have: time. Can it be done? If it can, then add waters like Wilbur’s to the above prescription, and here is why:

A healing lithium content in hot springs waters may be considered at about three parts per million. Wilbur has, at its latest testing, recorded approximately eight parts per million. Studies conducted by Dr. Jonathan V. Wright of the Tahoma Clinic, recently published in "Nutrition and Healing" magazine, have linked lithium water and anti-aging. Simply put, Lithium may be useful in preventing Alzheimer’s, senility, dementia, and possibly Parkinson’s. Lithium protects brain cells against otherwise normal wear and tear and also offers protection against a vast array of toxic molecules, including patent medications. Lithium can promote brain cell regeneration and increase the cell’s mass. In essence, the research is suggesting that Lithium is an anti-aging nutrient.

It is for good reason signs around the grounds are brushed with the motto, "In all the world no waters like these." Wilbur's natural mineral springs have been sought throughout the centuries. Whether by settlers and weary travelers of the mid 1800s or Native Americans for centuries prior, the powerful healing properties found here beckon the modern traveler, too. We just seem to have left feeling better than when we arrived. Once we passed through her gates, we found dramatic paradigm shifts geared to eliminate the familiar catalysts of stress in our lives. Reality at Wilbur Hot Springs became redefined.

Japanese bath traditions prevailed with clothing is optional in the bathing area, but required everywhere else at the resort. The mineral waters are found under an A-Framed bathhouse, which flow into three long channels with temperatures ranging from 98°F to 108°F. This three-walled bathhouse is completely private and stays open all night as well. Below the steaming baths, along the expansive multi-leveled deck, is a cool-water mineral pool flanked by an outdoor hot mineral sitting pool, dry sauna, showers, and plenty of lounge chairs.

Turn-of-the-century origins of the hotel are reflected in a dozen and half-unique guest rooms. There is a spacious apartment suite with a private bath, kitchen, living and dining room, and up to three adjacent bedrooms. An 11-bed bunk room is also available for the modest budget. Private showers are adjacent to the bathhouse. During spring, summer, and early fall, campsites are available on the hills overlooking the main house and property, if tenting under the stars is your thing.

Meals at Wilbur Hot Springs are unique. We brought our own groceries and prepared our meals in a huge professional kitchen well equipped with all necessary pots, pans, utensils, and dishes. We received refrigerator, freezer, and storage space for our fare. Though not present when we were there, well-known chefs host "Guest Chef Weekends," where they prepare five gourmet meals for a modest price addition.

Everyone enjoys the fruits of their culinary labors in several dining areas. Tables are found inside and on a covered outside porch. A large dining room, part of what is known as the Great Room, is also filled with tables and chairs. A pool table hugs one corner, while couches and reading chairs are set sitting room style near an upright piano in another. Several guitars, recorders, and bongos are found here, and impromptu jam sessions seemed to erupt every now and then among our fellow guests.

Wilbur relies on propane powered generators and solar panel-generated electricity, so forget about your electric razors or blow dryers. The ever-present smell of sulfur water on your clothes and in your hair should be something you need to be aware of as well. It is an ecologically-friendly setting where bird-, deer-, and animal-watching and hiking though wildflowers will draw the tree-hugger out of us all. A weekend, or even a night, at Wilbur hot springs illustrates what reality truly should be for all of us, even if for a short while.

Reservations: Call 530/473-2306 between 10am and 8pm daily.

Driving is as easy as clicking here for directions!

More Wilbur Hot Springs Information is on the Web. Just tell them Wayne Mason, TravelChannel.Igougo reviewer sent you! Enjoy!