Archive for Marin
Playing Tourist around the Bay
Posted by: | CommentsLast weekend I got to play tourist around the San Francisco Bay Area. Patty Dost (my virtual friend turned real friend years ago) came to visit from Indiana. Patty has never been to San Francisco before so we had a very packed weekend of activities to cram in to just a few days (because she was also here for work).
Patty said she wanted to see all the “typical tourist attractions” so I did my best to show them to her.
We started out on Saturday evening with a drive from the airport through the city. We passed through City Hall, Chinatown, the Financial District, drove through North Beach, the Marina and finally over the Golden Gate Bridge. She got to witness some of our micro-climates withing her first hour of visiting. It went from clear and sunny at SFO airport to foggy and cold near the Bridge.
On Sunday, I took her for the full tourist adventure. We started out on the Larkspur to San Francisco Ferry passing two very famous prisons (San Quinton and of course, Alcatraz). Having both of those prisons in the Bay makes me wonder what kind of ghosts from the past linger around here.
Our ferry landed at the beautiful Embarcadero Ferry Building. We then made our way through the building and out on to Embarcadero where we passed through all the street venders and artist on Market Street. We headed up Sacramento Street (through the Embarcadero Centers toward the Financial District – FiDi). That’s my secret shortcut from the ferry to the Financial District. Patty wanted a hamburger and I knew of a few places in the FiDi area that served hamburgers, what I did not know is that the WHOLE Financial District shuts down on the weekends. It was like a ghost town around here! Nothing was open! Patty was probably thinking, what kind of a big city is this that is closed on Sundays. I used my handy dandy iPhone to search for hamburger restaurants near FiDi… and finally found a place called Murphy’s Pub that was open! Patty got her hamburger!
Next we passed through Chinatown where Patty found some fun gifts for her family. After Chinatown I made Patty walk up a short hill that she described as long and steep… she is lucky I didn’t take her to Fillmore Street. #justsayin
Then we took a Cable Car to Fisherman’s Wharf. Patty could not believe I had never ridden on a Cable Car. I tried to explain to her that only tourists ride on Cable Cars… they are more trouble than they’re worth for locals (at least for me). We rode the very crowded Cable Car, got barked at by the operator – Stand Back! Stay Behind the Line! and held on for our lives as it cruised down hill.
We then hopped off and wandered a bit around Fisherman’s Wharf where Patty purchased some more kitsch. 
After that we headed over to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions and then walk through the middle of the Pier so she could see what all the hype was about. (It’s a fricken mall on a Pier, I personally don’t ‘get’ the hype). I have never in my life seen Pier 39 as crowded as it was this past Sunday! OMG you could not even walk. Picture a bar where you have to squeeze through people to get from here to there… well that is what Pier 39 felt like, so we got out of there as fast as we could.
*This is what it used to be like. For some reason, there are a lot less sea lions at Pier 39 now. Seems they moved to Oregon or something. Lots of Bay Area folks do that, Oregon is more affordable.
At this point we only had about an hour left to get back to the ferry and I was a little concerned with time because there was a Giant’s game that I knew was overflowing on to our ferry because the Giant’s ferry had sold out that day. Patty was tired from all the walking and steep hills of San Francisco so when I saw a PediCab sitting there on the street I grabbed him and asked him for a ride back to the ferry building. Now this is a tourist attraction I always wanted to try. The very strong man peddled us back to the ferry building along the Embarcadero. I think this was my favorite part of the day.
After our ferry arrived in Larkspur we walked across the street to the Marin Brew Co. where I had a planned an impromptu TweetUp and about 10 of my favorite Tweeps showed up to give Patty a real California welcome!
A Band of Wives and a few Wallflowers
Posted by: | CommentsOn Thursday night a large group of women descended upon Mill Valley. There were so many beautiful women arriving, the town couldn’t contain itself and erupted in excitement.
The reason for all the excitement was the A Band of Wives event happening at El Paseo restuarant.
“A Band of Wives is not about being married to men. It is a sisterhood of women who are supportive of other women and are looking to connect with likeminded women. We are helping women bring community back to their communities.”
As I was driving to the event the street literally was erupting in front of my eyes (and my car). I was a little nervous to drive by but ended up getting a great car wash (and photo) at no charge.
When I arrived to El Paseo I knew I was at the right place because I found the patio full of beautiful women.
Photo borrowed from A Band of Wives
I was happy to find familiar faces as soon as I walked in. My Tweeps were there! I said hello to my tweep friends, made my way to the bar, had a glass of complimentary bubbly, then did I little mingling. Ran in to the authors (Sue Warhaftig and Beverly Butler) of the book, Meant to Be that we are currently reading for the Twitter Book Club, chatted it up with them for a bit and then like a magnet was drawn back to the corner where my Tweeps were. Guess what they were doing? They were in a huddle looking down at their phones! I joined them. I SO wish I had a picture! However, I did get a picture of our toes. We were acting like a bunch of 7th grade girl wallflowers with the difference that we were having a blast tweeting it up while chatting with each other.
So… we aren’t that bad, we did actually talk to some non-tweeting wives. How could we not? They were all so friendly.
At one point during the evening Christine Bronstein, the founder, got up to speak and tell us about a sister wife who is going through a very difficult time. Here’s an excerpt* from the ABOW Facebook page with an example of how the wives actually do band together:
After the first El Paseo gathering I wrote “Oh what a night! There are simply no words to describe the high that comes with flittering, fluttering and floating amongst so many amazing wives who came from far and wide and mingled and laughed and ate and drank and were merry all around!”
This feeling, this merriment and excitement and support was still in full effect on this July night but tenfold as wives packed up the venue and enthusiastically reached out to each other in true ABOW spirit… but our gathering was also bittersweet as wives lived up to our ABOW name and indeed banded together for one of our own who needs help, wife Tika Hick.
Thank you Christine for the spur-of-the-moment fundraiser for Tika. If you don’t know the story, our wife Tika has been battling breast cancer with a new baby, is scheduled for a double mastectomy on July 20th and could really use our support in now tragically losing her husband (http://ow.ly/5G4Nn ). Please keep her in your prayers and if you want to help financially:
Attn: Matt Johnson
Bank of Marin
501 Sir Francis Drake Blvd
Suite 100
Greenbrae, CA 94904
Make payable to Hick/Potts Fund, Tika Hick or Bank of Marin and reference Tika*Written by the fabulous Leila Radan who is the Director of Operations for A Band of Wives.
Here is another post about Tika from a fellow wife/Tweep @LisaKiftTherapy who posted Tika’s story on her blog.
After lots of love, tears, laughter, socializing and tasty appetizers (the little cups of Mac-n-Cheese were to die for!) the geeks, I mean Tweeps decided to go out to dinner at Piazza D’Angelos. The 4 of us (@pobutler, @alembic, @tamholland and me) plus one innocent woman we planned to convert (a non-tweeting friend) headed over to Piazza D’Angelos where we sat down at a lovely table and promptly pulled out our phones to check in via FourSquare. We were more interested in our phones than in what the waiter had to say. I think we annoyed him a bit. When we finally got around to looking at the menu we discovered Piazza D’Angelos now has a gluten free menu! However, it seems the waiter isn’t fully sold on this menu yet… when Dolores and I ordered the gluten free gnocchi his response was do you want that one or the REAL one. We wanted the gluten free one and got it! I imagine being a waiter in Marin must be trying on the patience with all the quirkiness in diets that Marinites come up with.
Our plan worked, my friend Dolores converted and is now tweeting! She just had to try it after sitting there with us for awhile watching us tweet and chat about tweets. She grasped the concept of how Twitter works faster than anyone I’ve ever taught! She’s a natural. Follow her here: @mizstarryeyed She and I put our phones down long enough to take this picture.
A special thank you to Leila Radan for being SO active on the social networking sites keeping me informed about the upcoming A Band of Wives events. To Christine Bronstein for creating this wonderful group. Tolan Florence for welcoming us into El Paseo. To my Tweeps for sitting in restaurants with me tweeting. And all the wonderful women who showed up!
Sally In The Bay
Posted by: | CommentsAbout 15 years ago on the 4th of July I was ‘Sally IN the Bay’ instead of Sally Around the Bay. I was reminded of this the other day when I posted something about July 4th on Facebook and my mom commented saying,
“Remember the year you were Sally in the Bay?” 
Every 4th of July the city of Sausalito puts on an awesome firework show that you can watch from the shoreline. Fifteen years ago, when I was younger and a little bit more adventuresome one of our friends invited us to join them on their boat. Our friend said his dad had a lake boat we could borrow to go out on the Bay and watch the fireworks. We thought this sounded like a really cool idea! Around 8pm, 7 of us met up in Sausalito and got on the tiny lake boat. Three guys and 4 girls.
Naturally because there were 7 of us we began singing the theme song to “Gilligan’s Island”. It was a chilly Bay Area night so I was dressed in my hip city girl clothes (keep in mind I was 25 a the time) that were not exactly practical boating attire. I had on BIG Dr. Marten boots (all laced up), jeans and one of those leather jackets with zippers everywhere (all zipped up). Stay with me, the outfit is important.
We were having a jolly old time, sipping beer while we sped out to the center of the Bay to get a good view (somewhere between Tiburon and Sausalito). As we were singing Gilligan’s Island the motor of the boat died and would not restart…
It was a choppy night out on the Bay and water started sloshing in to the bottom of the boat, good thing I had my Doc Marten’s on. But the motor still wouldn’t start and more and more water started slopping in. At this point, the boat owner (well the owner’s kid) said don’t worry this boat is designed not to sink….. while he was saying sink the boat disappeared from under us and we were suddenly floating in the bay.
Well floating is not quite accurate, I was treading for my life because my Doc Marten’s filled with water & became huge heavy weights on my feet. The zipped up leather jacket and heavy Levi’s were not helping me stay afloat in anyway whatsoever. So there we were, 7 of us surviving in the Bay. Actually, 6 of us floating in the Bay one friend went in to shock and was clinging to the sinking boat for her life.
At this point, the firework show began.
We saw a fancy yacht over yonder so we all started screaming for help. The people in the yacht finally realized we were screaming for help and not just shouting about the fireworks (it was really dark) so they threw a life boat over and sent their kid over to see what was going on. Kid realized what was happening and raced back to get dad who jumped in life boat and zoomed over to us as fast as possible.
Problem was this blowup boat definitely not big enough to hold 7 of us. The man (our hero) suggested we all put one arm on the side of the boat and swim with our other arm to help the boat move. The guys held on to his boat while I struggled to get out of my leather jacket using all my strength not to sink and Celia and the other woman went to help our friend who was SINKING with the boat. She was there clinging to the tip of the boat that was still afloat. My friend, who I like to think of as Super Woman grabbed her and swam with her to safety to the yacht. I finally got out of the jacket and felt incredibly free even though my feet were still large dead weights trying to pull me under. I was able to grab on to the lifeboat and so was Celia.
We made it back to the yacht and then were supposed to pull ourselves out of water up to to the ladder. I’m not sure how much my feet/shoes weighed at this point but despite my adrenaline rush I could not pull myself out of that water… my friend, Super Woman was already on the yacht with our friend who was in shock so she bent down and pulled me up with one arm. (Still wondering what the guys were doing this whole time…)
The lovely family that gave up their fireworks show to save us called the Coast Guard who took 30 minutes to get to us. By the time the Coast Guard arrived Celia was already suffering from the first stage of hypothermia. Did you know our Bay is very cold?!
The Coast Guard put us in a nice heated room in their boat and wrapped Celia in blankets. They brought us to shore and lectured us a bit on being a little smarter next time. (I’ve pretty much avoided boats since that day.)
The next day my friends hired a rescue crew to rescue the boat. They found my stylin’ leather jacket floating next to the boat. The zippers were all rusty.
Sabbatical for Sally Around The Bay
Posted by: | CommentsI’m taking a sabbatical from blogging. I give up! I have not been able to fix this hacked blog and I can’t afford to put more money or time in to it. While I wait for this problem to solve itself (I’m hoping for a miracle) I will be over here at the new Marin TweetUp Community I created with the cool new program called Kontribune. Kontribune is actually an online newsletter that is community driven. The community can publish articles! It won’t just be me blabbing away, it will be the Marin Twitter Community!
Come on over and check it out!
PS. I’ll be announcing all upcoming TweetUps over here to!
Where’d Sally Go?
Posted by: | CommentsHi.
Here I am.
You may have noticed my blogging has been slowing down. I’m sorry. I miss my blog and readers, BIG time!
It’s not that I haven’t been discovering many, many great places around the Bay Area. It’s that my life got really complicated these last few months.
I’ve stopped blogging because…
- My blog got hacked by an icky pharmaceutical spammy type of hack and I have not figured out how to fix it! (You might notice some unwanted links throughout some of my blog posts, or see it when you do a Google search for one of my blog posts). It makes me sad.
- Family has been going through some serious challenges that have turned my life upside down.
- My house had a MAJOR plumbing disaster a few weeks ago. (Poopy water flooded my house and created some serious damage.)
- I got a full time job back in September and am still adjusting to this major shift in my life after 8 years of owning my own business.
- I’m exhausted. The thing I hear myself say the most now is, “I’m tired.” I actually say it too much.
I’m not complaining, just wanted to let you know where I’ve been. I have big plans to come back to blogging soon. In fact, Celia got me an iPad so I can start blogging from the bus. As soon as I solve this hacking issue I plan to be back to blogging full force!
In the meantime, I’ve been posting my commute pictures over here on the Sally Around the Bay Facebook page and I’m still very active on Twitter.
PS. The place I’m dying to blog about is Charlie Hong Kong’s in Mill Valley. The food is awesome (as in tasty and organic) and the service is great and they are dog and mountain bike friendly! Matt the owner/manager went outside to give my dog a treat and some love while we were inside eating then came inside and talked mountain biking with Celia. The second time we went back Matt remembered us and came around the counter to give us a hug!
Easter fun for kids in the North Bay
Posted by: | CommentsMarin Mommies has created a great list of Easter egg hunts in Marin and the North Bay.
Check out this list for some hopping family fun in 2011!
http://www.marinmommies.com/marin-county-easter-egg-hunts
And here is some Easter fun for the adults!
This comic makes me laugh every year.
Pupusas!
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Want to have a delicious and ethnic meal for 2 for under $10? I found the place!
I just discovered today that Royal Franks in downtown San Rafael is so much MORE than a hot dog stand.
I’ve walked by this place many times and never even considered going in. (I’m not a big fan of hot dogs.) Today as we were walking by we a saw a friend (Tere- the amazing woman who cuts our hair in Marin for $10) standing in front of Royal Franks. She was waiting for a friend but told us we absolutely had to try the Pupusas. I was like, “what are you talking about this a hot dog place?” She insisted we try their Pupusas and ordered one for us.
I asked the man behind the counter, Junior (who I think is the owner) what was up, did he have some kind of secret menu or something? I pointed to the menu that listed hot dogs and other random typical American food. He smiled and said yes and then handed me a card announcing the new menu. The card said, “Royal Franks now serves authentic Salvadorian and Guatemalan Food”.
We sat down and had to wait a few minutes. It turns out he makes the Pupusas fresh as you wait.
He brought us the Pupusa steaming hot! It was SO good and authentic tasting.
We decided to have Pupusas for dinner. They’re served with a tomato sauce and a cabbage salad. The total price for Celia and I to eat and bring home leftovers was under $10. The food was fresh, authentic and delicious!
Royal Franks is located at 1109 Fourth Street in San Rafael, CA.
415.879.5225
In case you are wondering what Papusas are… here is how Wikipedia describes them:
A pupusa (from Pipil pupusawa) is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of thick, hand-made corn tortilla (made using masa de maíz, a maize flour dough used in Latin American cuisine) that is filled with a blend of the following: cheese (queso) (usually a soft cheese called Quesillo found in all Central America), cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency (called chicharrón, not to be confused with fried pork rind, which is also known as chicharrón in some other countries), ), refried beans (frijoles refritos), or queso con loroco (loroco is a vine flower bud from Central America). The two most common pupusas are the pupusa de queso (cheese) and more popular pupusa revuelta with mixed ingredients of queso (cheese), frijoles (beans),[1] and chicharrón. Pupusas are typically served with curtido (lightly fermented cabbage slaw with red chilies and vinegar) and a watery tomato salsa. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa
I had the bean and cheese Pupusa!
Que rico!
If you go to Royal Franks, ask for Junior and tell him you want to try the secret menu Sally told you about.
Renaissance Woman: Leslie Lakes
Posted by: | CommentsI love Marin County! It’s full of interesting and fun people! For instance, meet Leslie Lakes (formally Hendricks) who is new to Marin and was kind enough to share some of her favorite things about the Bay Area through the eyes of a newbie.
What do you love most about the Bay Area?
Having relocated to the Bay Area from the East Coast (Montclair, NJ), I’m incredibly appreciative of so many things that native Marinites take for granted: like the comparatively warm and moderate weather; the exquisite beauty of the surrounding natural terrain and landscapes; the fact that within a short radius of Mill Valley where I live, I can see and experience the ocean, mountains, marinas, bird sanctuaries, valleys, the magnificent structure of the Golden Gate Bridge; the culture of San Francisco, not to mention the looming and majestic Mount Tamalpais from our front door! I love the fresh, sweet smelling air, as well as the fog that rolls in early in the morning, and burns off in the afternoon. I love the fact that flowers bloom all year round; the characteristically health oriented culture, and that public buses have bike racks. How cool is that!
What is your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area?
While there’s a plethora of excellent and multi-ethnic restaurants in the bay area, for great Deli sandwiches, LOUIE’S DELI on Bridgeway in Sausalito can’t be beat! We also enjoy DISH in Mill Valley, but if I had to choose only ONE restaurant…it would be SARTAJ on Caledonia Street in Sausalito. SARTAJ is a small quaint, Indian ‘Mom and Pop’ operation where every dish is made with love and just the right amount of spices. Portions are ample and the prices are very reasonable. But, mostly because it’s where my husband and I courted before we got married. We even have our own special table for two by the window! (I love Sartaj!!! Their Chai tea is delicious!)
What is your favorite coffee or tea shop?
I love lattes and café au lait “to go” (always “extra hot”) either from PEET’S or STARBUCKS, but to actually sit down to enjoy coffee, I prefer to go to LA BOULANGE (Strawberry Village, Mill Valley) because it’s the closest thing to being in France (where I’m from) as they serve café au lait with lots of frothy hot milk foam, in a bowl.
Where is your favorite place to shop for clothing, books, kids stuff, etc?
For clothes: THE FAMILY THRIFT STORE (Miller Avenue, Mill Valley); GOODWILL (San Rafael); H&M (Terra Linda); MARSHALL’S (Novato) and ROSS stores (throughout).
For books: Without a doubt – BOOK PASSAGE in Corte Madera!
For children’s things: GOOD NITE MOON (where I work on a part-time basis) at the Corte Madera Town Center, and WEE THREADS (E. Blithedale Ave., Mill Valley)
Favorite place to hike or bike? Favorite park? or Favorite outdoor activity?
While my husband is a professional bike mechanic (MIKE’S BIKES) and quite passionate about cycling, I lean more toward getting places – on foot! I love to walk and often do for miles and miles. My most favorite outdoor activity is normally horse-back-riding, but in this current economy, walking is cheaper. I enjoy walking just about anywhere! For exercise, I often take the bike path from Mill Valley to Sausalito town center, and back again.
Can you tell me a little bit more about what you do? What kind of people do you work with? Who do you help?
I’ve often been called a “Renaissance Woman”. My main profession is that of licensed Massage Therapist with over 23 years experience in the field with a private practice in Mill Valley. I’m also a singer/songwriter of children’s fare; a visual artist, as well as voice-over artist.
I love people and animals, and am actively involved in the community and with major fund-raising efforts (i.e., KIDDO, Marin Symphony, The Marin Humane Society, etc.).
Thanks Leslie!
Best Burritos in the Bay Area
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I think I have found the best burritos in the world! Indian-Mexican fusion. Avatar’s Punjabi Burritos in Mill Valley is the sister restaurant to Avatar’s restaurant in Sausalito. Avatar Punjabi burritos are my new obsession.
Avatar’s can and will make any dish “Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, or to your specific taste. No dietary restrictions!”
There is a sign on the outside of the restaurant that tells you how to order. It says, “our basic Punjabi burrito is made with fresh curried garbanzo beans, potatoes, basmati rice, fresh herb salsa, seasonal fruit chutney, carrot pickle, non-fat yoghurt and homemade tamarind sauce. You can add any of the following food items to modify our basic burrito.”
I like a place that makes it easy to figure out what you want. Today I ordered the Curry Chicken burrito. Total cost $8.00. It’s big enough that Celia and I can share one and be satisfied.
This place could be described as a hole in the wall. I’ve walked past Avatar’s a million times and never tried it. Take a lesson from me, don’t hesitate to try a hole in the wall kind of restaurant… sometimes you discover the most amazing food and people.
Avatars is a great place to stop after a hike or bike ride in Mill Valley.
Avatar’s Punjabi Burrito
15 Madrona St
Mill Valley, CA 94941
41-381-8293
Snow on Mt. Tam
Posted by: | CommentsIt snowed on Mt. Tam this weekend! This is a very unusual thing to happen. The few times we’ve seen snow on Mt. Tam in the past, it has melted away faster than we could get our cameras out. This snow has been here for the last 2 days!
When I woke up this morning and saw blue sky, the first thing I did was run outside and go to the top of my steep hill to see if there was still snow on the mountain. There was!
We grabbed our dog, got in the car, picked up a friend and another dog and headed up the mountain for a hike in the snow. We happened upon this snow person.
Here are some more photos from our fun in the sun today:
Mt. Tam also known as Mt. Tamalpais is located in Marin County. It’s full of beautiful trails for hiking and biking on.
More photos from others:
