California Winter 2025 - Part IV Stinson Beach

Friday March 7th Cont.

When I left off we were on our way to Stinson Beach, up in Marin County north of San Francisco. First we wanted to stop at the roasted chicken place we went to a couple of years ago, Sol Food, a Puerto Rican Restaurant. Only problem was there are a few different locations and the first one we tried was their carryout place. Then we went to the right place, which is in San Rafael. It was as good as we remembered, but the chicken plate was awfully big, a half chicken with salad, rice, beans and fries (last time I got plantains but even though I love bananas I’m not crazy about plantains so I got fries instead). Then we drove to Stinson Beach which is wayyyy off the beaten path. I’m all for just hanging out here for 3 days, but I think Lee may get restless. There’s a small grocery store and a few restaurants and a beautiful beach.

Saturday March 8

Our room at the Surf Lodge is just darling. It’s a very small place, I think 8 rooms. Each room is a little standalone cabin. Ours has a small living area, a king-size bed, a kitchenette and a bathroom. Not huge but plenty of room for us. For dinner last night we went to one of the 2 restaurants, Breakers Cafe, right across the road from us. We both got tortilla soup and margaritas because we just weren’t very hungry after our giant lunches. There’s a very nice patio with heaters but we were freezing so we ate inside.

In the morning we had a Nepresso coffee maker crisis. I could NOT figure out how to get it to work, despite watching the you tube video multiple times. Finally Lee noticed that the light on top was flashing green AND red instead of just green and looked up what that meant. The damn thing needed to be descaled! So my genius engineer found the you tube video for THAT and then we were on our way. It makes pretty good coffee once it’s working!

After breakfast and a shower we went for a walk along the beach. SO BEAUTIFUL! We walked north along the shore for about 2 miles and then turned around and walked back. Birds, dogs, people, kids, blue sky, fog in the distance, mountains to the east. It was chilly but not too bad. Afterwards we sat on a bench and watched the world go by Then we went back to the lodge to eat lunch . We ate some of our leftover chicken from yesterday, and I had an orange and a cookie too. I STILL have some chicken left! I think I’m going to throw it away, I’m getting suspicious of its edibility after sitting around for the afternoon in the car, even if we did put it in the fridge when we got here.

We are mostly relaxing this afternoon, with a break for an afternoon latte. We sat in the little park for a while. There are a lot of cyclists here today, most of them with very nice bikes, which you pretty much need if you are going to bike over these hills!

Sunday March 9

Around 5:40 we walked over to the beach to watch the sunset, which set promptly at 6:10. It was beautiful but not spectacular because there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! It’s novel to watch the sun set over the ocean because the sun drifts down and then just drops like a rock. In a minute it seems, it was gone.

Last night we ate at the Parkside Cafe. It gets mixed reviews, but not because of the food. Some people had bad service experiences but we did not. In fact it was pretty wonderful all around. The waitress was attentive and the food was great! I got the seafood stew and Lee got the chilled seafood platter which came with 3 gouterres (basically a savory cheese profiterole), one of which I ate. I also had some of his tuna poke and smoked salmon. It was all very very good!

Last night was the “spring forward” time change, so we lost an hour. I slept pretty late for me anyway. I woke up at 6:20 but went back to sleep and the next thing I knew it was 7:30! I guess I was tired. I’m actually going to set my alarm tonight because otherwise it will be very hard to get up in time to run because we babysit for Emi on Tuesday.

Lee caught another cold from Emi. He seems pretty miserable today, coughing and sneezing a lot. We hiked part of the Dipsea trail this morning. What a beautiful trail! A lot of elevation gain with gorgeous views as our reward. Lee made it about a mile and a half before his cold forced him to turn around. I went two and a half miles, far enough to make it over the next hill and see the view south along the coast. Amazing! The trail goes all the way to Muir Woods, about 9 miles one way. I did 5 miles total, with 1400 ft of elevation gain. I loved it!

The Famous Dipsea Steps, Maybe!

Views North on The Dipsea Trail

Redwoods Along the Dipsea Trail

Afterwards we got sandwiches and french fries at Parkside and sat outside in the little park. Now we’re basically being lazy, again. 

Tomorrow it’s back to Los Altos and Emi.

Monday March 10

Last night we got a carryout pizza from Parkside. We didn’t think it would be very polite to sit in a restaurant while Lee was coughing away. The pizza was good too. I set my alarm for 6 but it was still very hard to get up. I managed, but lazed around for a while before finally going on a short run. I was supposed to run 4 miles but it was really hard to find a decent place to run. The road I tried ended at a private resort so I cut over to the beach, but the sand was very squishy. I ran north on the beach until it petered out and then took a path along the shore back to town. I made it 3 miles and decided that was good enough.

My Run Attempt Petered Out Along the Beach

Highway One Snaking Back and Forth

Around 10:30 we headed up highway 1 back to Los Altos. Man that is a scary road! Lee drove and I’m glad. We stopped in San Mateo for dumplings at a little place called Town of Dumplings. Homemade dumplings. We got shanghai soup dumplings, pork dumplings, cucumber salad, scallion pancakes, and hot and sour soup. Way too much food and it was all really good! We plan on remembering this place. Very Chinese, they were all speaking Mandarin.

San Francisco and A Bike Trip: The Biking Trip Part I

Monday February 27

It was a rainy morning in San Francisco. I finished Rossi’s sweater. It came out cute and she enjoyed wearing it. We tried to take her for a walk when the rain let up for a minute but it started raining again so we had to cut it short.

Daniel drove us to the rental car place at 11. It was pouring, but it stopped just long enough for us to get our rental car. Whew! We headed north on 101 to San Rafael. We ate lunch at a Peruvian place called Sol Kitchen. Their specialty was roasted chicken and it was delicious! Instead of fries I tried their plantains. I got both the garlic and the sweet ones. I liked the sweet ones better. I got a cafe con leche too, which was fabulous!

Sol Kitchen Lunch

Then we drove the rest of the way to Healdsberg. Such a cute little town in the Russian River Valley. We stopped at Getaway Adventures to check in and get oriented. So far I am not impressed, although my bike is nice. They are kind of freewheeling, which some people might enjoy but I like structure, especially when I’m biking around an unfamiliar area. He showed us in a general sense where to go and suggested some wineries. We had trouble getting the directions into Google maps, but finally got that figured out. 

Tomorrow morning is probably going to be rainy so we’re not planning on starting until the rain lets up around noon. Unclear if we will eat lunch along the way or before. They gave us water bottles for tomorrow but no snacks. And their itinerary says we have a guide the first day but there was no mention of that today. 

I know I need an attitude adjustment. I wasn’t in charge of organizing this, so I really should try to chill. Maybe after tomorrow I will have a completely different feeling about it. I hope so.

After that we checked into our b&b, The River Belle, right on the Russian River. It’s nice. Our room has a beautiful view, even if it’s small. Breakfast is included but the earliest we can get coffee is 7 am. Ugh. Maybe I’ll sleep til 6. We can hope!

Tuesday February 28

The b&b has a happy hour every afternoon at 5:30, so before dinner we went to that for a bit. There was a nice plate of snacks and I had a small glass of wine.

Then we walked the 1/2 mile to dinner at Lo and Behold Kitchen and Wine Bar. They have an eclectic menu. We got a few small plates and then split an order of their noodles with kimchi. The hostess here at the b&b recommended it. Sounds weird but it was really good! The noodles were perfect, the kimchi was fresh and tangy and the water chestnuts added a nice crunch. We got their eggs rolls and a pea shoot salad for the small plates and they were very good too.

In the morning I almost made it to 6, 5:45 anyway. Then I patiently waited until they brought coffee to our room at 7. At 8 we went downstairs for breakfast which was delicious. It was raining off and on, but Lee looked at the radar and said we’d have a window with less rain between 10 and 1 so around 9:30 we went over to the bike shop, got on our bikes, and off we went.

First we stopped at Oakville Grocery and got sandwiches and other snacks for lunch. Then we rode about 12 miles up Dry Creek West to Bella Winery. It was a very pretty drive, but hardly flat, as the bike tour said! I guess maybe by local standards it was flat, I don’t know. It rained off and on, briefly fairly hard, but never a real downpour.

We reached the winery around 11. They let us sit inside their wine cave and eat our lunch and then we did a leisurely wine tasting, about 8 wines. I bought 2 bottles. All day it rained, off and on. By 1:30 we were ready to head back into town. We could have gone a different way but we were wet and kind of cold and didn’t want to risk getting lost, so we just rode back the way we came.

We stopped in town for a coffee and then went back to the b&b. A hot shower felt really great!  Now we’re relaxing until it’s time for happy hour and then dinner with George and Lori.

Wednesday March 1

At happy hour yesterday we chatted with a couple from Europe that were also doing a bike tour but they were going from one place to another, spending each night in a different inn. That would be fun too, more like what we did in Italy.

We met George and Lori at Sweet T’s in Windsor, a little town about 10 minutes away. It was still raining when we got there. It was so nice to visit and catch up. The restaurant is known for their bbq.  Got a small plate with smoked brisket and Mac and cheese. Very good. I didn’t have any alcohol, I had enough thank you! But that meant I got to drive back to the b&b. It was dark but at least the rain had stopped. It’s getting harder and harder to drive at night. Sigh.

This morning I managed to sleep til almost 6. The coffee came at 7 and I had an energy bar too. Then we went to breakfast at 8 and I had a Belgian waffle. 

We waited to get started riding til almost 10. It was pretty cold, but sunny and bright! And windy. Like really really windy. The wind was out of the north and all morning we rode straight into it. It was very tiring. I felt like an old woman. It was a beautiful route, not very hilly, with lots of flowers and snow capped peaks in the distance. 

By the time we got to Geyserville for lunch I was hungry and worn out. We got a pizza and a beet salad and then I felt much better!

It was about 15 miles to Geyserville but only 10 miles back and we were riding with the wind. It probably took half as long! We got ourselves another coffee and then headed back to the b&b to rest.

View From Our B&B Window