I wrote this for the STOA
Newsletter and decided to share it
with the Tiger Net.
Bill
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Tomales Bay Excursion
June 16, 1996
By Bill Goebner
Rick Grossman guided us on a leisurely trip through Western
Marin County beginning in Mill Valley where we met after crossing
the Golden Gate Bridge.
After about an hours drive on a twisty two lane road with
breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean we stopped for
breakfast/lunch about noon in the small town of Point Reyes Station.
I think that Paul Reisentz made the best choice with an oyster
omelet. I took a short stroll down the business district which HAD to
be short since it was only about a block long. I saw evidence of a
former railroad presence in the form of a building which looked
like a freight station.
The high point of the trip was a visit to the Point Reyes
Lighthouse, about a 40 minute drive away. It was a long steep walk up
to the top of the hill where I thought the lighthouse was
located. Cathy and I found that we had to then walk down some stairs
equivalent to a 30 story building. Walking down was OK. Up was a
different case. The light in the _house_ was made in Paris in 1870
and shipped around the tip of South America. It isn't used now except
for special occasions due to modern navigation tools such as Global
Positioning Systems and Radar.
There was a sign there stating that Point Reyes was the foggiest place
on the Pacific coast, however, when Cathy and I left home, the fog
there was so thick that it was like rain and at the lighthouse, it was
windy but not foggy. When we returned home in the hills
overlooking the Ocean in Woodside near the Bella Vista Restaurant,
there was the thick drippy fog again! We should have taken the
_Foggiest Place on the West Coast_ sign home with us.
After panting our way back to the cars from the lighthouse, we then
drove back to town, then North to an Oyster Farm in Marshall where
some of us bought fresh oysters. It was a bit early for dinner so we
decided to drive about 30 minutes North to the town of Tomales where
Tom Hall and Paul Reisentz spent about 20 minutes doing an analysis
on Rick Grossman's Tiger in the middle of a side street. It was
warm and sunny there and people passing by were either admiring our
cars or wondering what we were doing in the middle of the road.
The last stop was dinner at Tony's Seafood, overlooking Tomales Bay.
The food was very good and reasonably priced. It was
wonderful getting fresh seafood at the source. Cindy Hall had a
grilled cheese sandwich. Her dad, Tom, was more adventurous and had
raw oysters. Aren't they supposed to increase your power in some
things? Well, it was Fathers Day. Tom should have been able to order
what he wanted.
After dinner we split up and returned home. Rick, thank you
very much for a well planned outing. If you didn't go, you
missed a very nice excursion. - wg-
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