Golden Gate, Muir Woods, and Half Moon Bay

This post has been lingering in my Drafts folder since the beginning of December last year. While doing a little blog housekeeping last week I stumbled across this one, polished it up a bit, and posted it here, almost three months after my lovely business trip to US.

We were visiting the Bay Area in Northern California and I did all the clichéd touristy stuff during the weekend – wine tasting at Napa, a visit to Golden Gate bridge, a hike through Muir Woods, and a stroll along Half Moon Bay beach.

I blogged about our Napa day trip here, and below are some photos/highlights of the fun times in Golden Gate, Muir Woods, and Half Moon Bay.

I’ve been to Golden Gate bridge several times before and so I no longer get that heart-stopping feeling I got the first time I walked and drove down here. However, the weather was absolutely fantastic (for late November). The sun was shining, there was a brisk breeze and the light was perfect for a few photos.

After posing and oohing and aahing at all the views, we made our way to Muir Woods. The weather was so good, it seemed like the whole of the bay area had decided to visit. The place was packed!

We did the Cathedral Grove trail stopping now and then to exclaim at the height of the trees and take a few photos.

All that hiking made us very hungry and we stopped at Sausalito for some grub and to walk around the marina and watch San Francisco’s infamous fog cloud the city bit by bit.

By now, the sun had set, the temperatures had dropped to freezing, and we left tired and sleepy back to our hotel.

The next day, we drove up to Half Moon Bay, which is a picturesque beach close to San Mateo.

We went for long quiet walks and admired the bravery of the surfers who were surfing in the frigid waters. I don’t exaggerate, we tried dipping our toes in the water and sprang back almost immediately.

You know I am a pathetic photographer when I managed to cut out the lovely Ritz-Carlton hotel on the headland out of the below shot. Oh well!

After the walk we headed out to the Miramar restaurant on the beach, which is one of the more popular (read: tourist trap) restaurants in the area. The atmosphere was great and the live music fun. We got an indoor table, but really, the best part of the restaurant is the patio with the lovely view of the beach. So, if you are visiting it, make sure you request and get a beach-side view.

The food was about average. I liked that they had a separate vegetarian menu, but I didn’t like that almost everything was drowned in artichoke. Artichoke is one of my least favorite vegetables, and when I was done with my meal, my plate looked a lot like my kids – with the vegetables left to one side 🙁 .

I did though love the giant artichoke that the restaurant had growing outside.

So that was our weekend in the bay area. I was there with a big group of friends so it was so much fun.

All business trips should be like this one. Also, please excuse me looking like a bear in the above photo. It was super-cold outside, and I had just entered the restaurant. It took some time to warm up!