October 8, 2007

  • Sunday, October 7

    I managed to get the dogs walked and out of the house by 8AM which was good because I had a big day planned.  I rode Corbett to Clayton to Frederick to Stanyon and into Golden Gate Park.  I came out of the Park at Arguello and took it into the Presidio and then Washington to Lincoln to the Golden Gate Bridge and then into Sausalito.  I rode through town and then got on the bike path at Mike's Bikes.  Did not stop to ogle Jeff, the hot GM at Mike's Bikes.  Sigh, maybe another day.  I took the bike path to Mill Valley and then rode over Camino Alto into Corte Madera.  Then, I continued onto to Ross and then Kentfield into San Anselmo and then Fairfax.  This is the view from Fairfax:  a perfect Fall day:

    I headed off on Sir Francis Drake up over White's Hill.  This is the view from the top:

    I came down into San Geronimo Valley and got on Nicasio Valley Road into Nicasio.  They had a pumkin patch with oodles of screaming children:

    I continued on Nicasio Valley Road and noted the resevoir was getting very low.  Rain, please.

    I turned on Point Reyes Petaluma road and started heading North.  I turned on Hicks Valley Road and then again on Wilson Hill Road.  This is a view from the top of Wilson Hill lookng down at a vineyard:

    And another view looking north at the hills:

    And one of me as well:

    I continued on Wilson Hill into Chileno Valley road where I saw this bucolic bunch sunning themselves on a hillside:

    I continued on Chileno Valley to Western and into Petaluma to Petaluma Blvd.  Petaluma is a farming town which is making the gradual transformation into a resort community.  The architecture reminds me of "The Big Valley" except with no Barbara Stanwick and no Linda Evans.  Which is good because one of them is dead and the other is dead in a sense.  There a lot of 1870's and 1880's buildings that are very finely detailed.  You don't see a whole lot of them in San Francisco because most of them burned in the 1906 fire.

     

      

    I stopped at a park which was once warehouses but is slowly making the transformation to restaurants and condos.  This is a view towards downtown from there:

    Amd a view of the groovy victorian Mansion across the river:

    I had some lunch and then headed south on B street.  This is the rustic public library:

    And another fantasitc Victorian.  I love Petaluma!

    I took B to El Rose to D and then South where it turns into Point Reyes Petaluma Road.  This is the view looking south from the top of the hill:

    I turned at Novato Blvd and headed towards Novato.  This is Stafford Lake which is really pretty:

    I continued on Novato Blvd to S Novato Blvd and took that until it ended and then was on the 101 for a mile or so.  I got a little lost and had to ride around a bit, first to Bel Marin Keys and then to the College of Marin before I found my way south-- Alameda del Prado to a bike path along the freeway to Miller Creek to Las Gallinas.  Thanks to both the people who helped me find it!  I took Las Gallinas to Lucas Valley and then missed a turn and ended up at McKinnis Park.  D'Oh!  I found the bike route(Redwood Hwy) and followed that into Civic Center Drive and then to the beautiful Marin County Civic Center.  It's a gorgeous Frank Lloyd Wright designed structure that you can read more about here.  I stopped and took a break so I got a bunch of pics:

    From there I got on San Pedro and rode through China Camp State Park.  This may be the prettiest park in Marin.  I love it:

    I came out in San Rafael and came into town on 3rd Street.  San Rafael is pretty new but there are remnants of it's Victorian past but you have to look pretty hard:

    I got a little lost in San Rafael but eventually found my way back to San Anselmo.  From there I went to Ross, Coret Madera, back over Camino Alto into Mill Valley and then along the bike path into Sausalito, back over the bride and then Lincoln to Washington to Arguello into Golden Gate Park and then then JFK to Stanyon to Grattan to Belvedere to Carmel to Clayton to Corbett and then home.  It was a really long, really fun day but I was so glad to be home.  I beat Jeff home by about 10 minutes and we had dinner and I went to bed early.

    Bike Mileage:
    Today                            123.6(!!!)
    Week to date                 349.6(!!!)