Bay Area Adventures: Muir Woods State Park

Back in March when I learned my international friend Bernadette was coming to visit, I was determined to show her something she'd never seen before.  Yes, we took her to the Golden Gate Bridge, but we had three more days and I wanted to do something new for both of us.  I decided to take her to Muir Woods State Park, located over the GGB in Marin County, north of San Francisco.  Besides being a beautiful nature area full of hiking trails and even beaches, Muir Woods is also home to the southernmost forest of Redwood trees in the US.  And since Redwood trees only grow on the coast of California, this is the southernmost Redwood forest in the world.

As someone who was born and raised in Germany and had just spent the last few years of her life in New Zealand, I was sure Bernadette had never seen a Redwood before, and was excited to show her these incredibly amazing trees. Now, I'm not really a "nature freak" per se, but something about the Redwoods just totally fascinates me.  As my Grannie would say, some Redwoods are "older than Christ," and you have to respect and admire anything that can literally live over 2,000 years.  Not to mention grow as tall as 30 stories high while also smelling amazing.

In high school a friend of mine sent me a postcard from the actual Redwood National Forest (located about 8 hours north of SF).  The postcard itself was made out of a very very thin piece of Redwood bark, and to this day, more than 10 years later, it still smells faintly like Redwoods. I was not disappointed to be greeted by that exact smell when we got out of the car and entered Muir Woods.   

We walked through the grove of trees on a raised deck-like path.   Bernadette and I both took a million pictures of the gargantuan trees, and took several deep deep breaths of the deliciously fresh air.  After we turned back, we happened upon a group of tourists and a guide, who was leading a "tree talk." We listened for a few minutes and my nerdy self was loving it.  We learned some really awesome trivia, most notably 1) Redwood bark can grow up to 2 feet thick, thus being a natural defense against predators and 2) The bark secretes tannin, which is a natural bug repellant.  So while many trees will secrete sap, and thus attract insects like termites and even birds, all those little pests leave Redwoods alone.

After we got back to the car, we drove down to Sausalito and spent the afternoon walking on the boardwalk, and treated ourselves to some fresh seafood.  It was a lovely day, and San Francisco did not disappoint with another sunny day for my visitor!

We entered through this gate, but it turns out we should have gone through the gift shop to pay an entrance fee.  Whoops.

Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, and even these pale in comparison to some of the bigger ones found at Redwood National Park

Me and Bernadette on one of the many bridges along the path

My pup Sunny exploring Sausalito

Sausalito beach sculptures with the San Franciso skyline in the background

30 Before 30: Buy a Mini Cooper

The other day, I fulfilled a huge goal in my life thus far, and bought a car.  And not just any car - my dream car, a Mini Cooper hardtop.

I have been lusting after Minis for years.  Every time I saw one on the street, my inner voice would squeal "miniiiiii!!!" and I even test drove them several times over the years.  I was smitten.  As every male close to me in life kept reminding me, it certainly would have been more "practical" to get an economy car like a Honda or a Toyota, or really any Japanese car with 4 doors and a large trunk, etc.  

But whatever.  I'm not going to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a car that someone else wants me to buy.  I know that in just a few short years I will have to buy that practical car (especially if the twin prediction comes true) and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life regretting the fact that I didn't take advantage of the one time I could buy what I really wanted.

So I saved for three years, I worked really hard to get my credit score up, and I wrote the biggest check of my life.  And boooyyyy does it feel good to have bought myself exactly what I have wanted for years!  :)

Bay Area Adventures: Baker Beach

When my favorite international friend Bernadette informed me that she was moving from New Zealand to Germany, I immediately realized that this meant one thing: A California stop-over!  So I convinced her to book her flights and come visit me for four days at the end of March. I was just as excited to see her, as I was to use her as an excuse to get a jump-start on my Bay Area Adventures list!

When she had lived in LA previously, Bernadette had taken a whirl-wind weekend trip up to San Francisco and did most of the touristy things - Alcatraz, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli Square, etc.  So when planning our itinerary, I asked her what she hadn't done and would like to do.  She was so polite and European about it, when she said "Well, we did all these things but it was so foggy, we didn't even get to see the Golden Gate Bridge.  So... I guess, if we could maybe see that, that would be really cool."

Luckily for her, I am still obsessed with the GGB myself and took this as the prefect opportunity to finally take some of my own touristy bridge pictures. I knew of a great place with an amazing bridge view, and with a bit of research (asking one friend who lives in the city) I learned that the place I wanted to go was called Baker Beach.  So we made Baker Beach our #1 SF stop for Bernadette's visit.

The few times I have been in San Francisco have been pretty difficult (to say the least) driving/parking experiences, and since this was literally the ONLY thing Bernadette requested, I was scared that we would make it all the way to Baker Beach only to find no parking within a 2-mile radius.  So we left extra early and took the scenic route up to San Francisco.  We got to Baker beach around 11:00 AM (had to give the fog some time to burn off) and of course, there were dozens of parking spots in the closest lot. We parked and walked along the eucalyptus-lined path, turned a corner, and saw THIS:

Taa-daaaaa!

Not even a wisp of fog!  Bernadette was beside herself, and I tried to play it cool, but I was loving it too.  Even Ronny knew how lucky we were to be seeing the bridge in all its glory on such a beautiful day, especially in March. What an amazing view of a world landmark!  I had never felt more excited to live in the bay area than I did in that moment.

So we took our shoes off and started walking along the beach, taking pictures of the majestic bridge as we walked.  And then we started looking around.  Despite the stunning view in front of us, we were surrounded by another view entirely: a decently-sized crowd of naked men.  Because, naturally, the beach with the most amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge in all of San Francisco WOULD be a nude beach. 

With naked men to our right, large families (with children!!) taking family photos to our left, and the Golden Gate Bridge in front of us, I realized then that I - and my foreign friend - were having a true San Francisco experience.  But of course, she is European and it wasn't even that big of a deal to her.

Overall, I was blown away by the view at Baker Beach.  I've seen hundreds of pictures that friends have posted of them standing in this exact spot, but seeing it in person was really special.  It was easily worth the drive, and I look forward to showing more touristy friends the beach - except this time I will warn them about all the nude men!

Please notice the naked men sunbathing

The panoramic postcard shot

Me and Bernadette in front of the GGB!

He allowed me to take one touristy picture, good thing it was the perfect one!

30 Before 30: A Broadway Show

After living in Los Angeles for five years, you would assume I had seen lots and lots and lots of plays.  The sad truth is, however, I barely saw any.  I worked in Hollywood and went to lots of movie screenings, and saw some live improv theater, but never saw a Broadway-caliber production.  After seeing basically all of my friends at one time or another check-in on Facebook at this play or that theater, I became absolutely determined to see a big musical play production before I became a 30-year-old grown up. 

Being a life-long fan of South Park (it debuted when I was 11, which means it has been airing for more than half my life), when Trey Parker and Matt Stone announced they were developing a musical play called The Book of Mormon, I was intrigued.  When it won 9 Tony awards including Best Musical, I was set on seeing it. 

As part of my Christmas present, my boyfriend bought us tickets to see The Book of Mormon at the Curran Theater in San Francisco on December 29, 2012.  A day after he bought them, our $80 tickets were selling for $400 each, but since he knew how much I wanted to see it, he didn't sell them.

The theater was old and majestic, with a very intimate feel.  We sat up in the balcony but still got as good of an experience as if we were in the orchestra section.  The play was hysterical, the music was catchy, and it was overall a fancy and fun experience.  I hope we will be able to see many more Broadway-style plays in the future, and one someday actually on Broadway!

30 Before 30: A Pro NFL Football Game

The very first thing I did after finishing my Los Angeles list was promptly move from Los Angeles to the Bay Area.  It was a decision long in the making, and I'm sure that the majority of the items on my 30 Before 30 list will now have a Bay Area slant.  I've never been one to be afraid of new experiences, and look forward to all the amazing discoveries I am sure to make in the Bay Area! 

Of all the items on my new 30 Before 30 list, I'm sure seeing a pro NFL football game is the one my boyfriend was most excited to help me with.  Before I had even finalized my list, he had bought tickets to the San Francisco 49ers game vs. the Arizona Cardinals at Candlestick Park on December 30, 2012.

We tailgated beforehand with a large group of his - and now my - friends.  Fun was had by all, and since this was the last regular season game for the Niners, a win was crucial for a favorable playoffs position.  The air was buzzing with anticipation.

After a slow first quarter (not a single first down) and a few missed field goals, the Niners were able to pull it together, and beat the Cardinals 27-13.  I very much enjoyed seeing the "behind the scenes" goings-on of a football game that would have otherwise been filled with commercial breaks.  As we all know, Los Angeles hasn't had a pro team since 1995, and I am excited to be a part of a football fanbase for the first time in my life.  But don't worry, my heart still belongs (and will always belong) to the Los Angeles Dodgers!