We Left Our Hearts

---

Here we are in Oregon, playing catchup on blogs we have neglected due to too much "living in the present." We knew this would eventually happen!

This missive covers the time we spent in the Bay area both before and after our Yosemite trip. Since we had done most of the city stuff on two previous visits to San Francisco, we devoted this period to spending time with friends, our son Nick, and several scenic/birding locations in the Bay area. Our home-base during this period was the Anthony Chabot (prounced "sha-bow") Regional Park to the east of Oakland. From here we visited the city of Berkeley and the UC Berkeley campus, Marin County, and the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Center. The photos we include here summarize these experiences.

We left San Francisco for the high deserts of Reno, NV and extreme (in many ways) north-east California on April Fool's Day. A blog entry covering our Reno trip will follow shortly.

---

Photos

San Francisco RV Park
Our first stop in the San Francisco area was actually in Pacifica, CA where we spent one night at a unique RV park we'd been to previously that overlooks the Pacific.

Beach Below Pacifica RV Park
The Marin county headland and the opening to the San Francisco bay can be seen in the distance.

Entrance to Anthony Chabot Regional Park
This regional park is located in the hills behind Oakland and Castro Valley. Despite its urban surrondings, the park was quiet and had a lot of wildlife, including mountain lion and rattlesnake (not seen by us). There were also many miles of trails for hiking (dogs allowed!), bikes, and horses.

View of the San Francisco Bay from Chabot Park.
There are several views of the Bay from Chabot Regional Park. We spent a total of one week here.

Lake Chabot
Zebra muscles have recently been discovered in California waters. Over concern for spreading the muscles within the state, the use of carry-in boats was discouraged in Lake Chabot and we opted to not kayak.

Turkey Flock
Or visit coincided with turkey mating season. Males were "gobbling" and displaying everywhere. Moxie was very excited.

Nick's residence in Berkeley, CA
Nick looks after this historic, Victorian house in Berkeley, but lives in his 1987 Airstream motorhome in the back yard.

Nick's 1987 34.5' Airstream Motorhome
The property came complete with modest garden plot, lemon trees, and several artichoke bushes.

Marin County Near Mount Tamalpais
We spent a day driving around this beautiful area.

View of Stinson Beach from the Marin headlands
Earlier we had stopped at Muir Woods, but found it too crowded with school kids to endure the lack of quiet solitude a place like this requires.

Palo Alto Baylands and Nature Center
This county park and the surrounding Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a "must-visit" birding spot.

Some Birds at the Baylands
Some black-necked stilts and American avocets--two of our favorite birds.

UC Berkeley Campus
We received a personal tour of the University of California Berkeley campus from our good friends Sue and Dick Levy, who are both alumni.

Landscape Clock on UC Berkeley Campus
A botanical clock designed for high flying academic types on the UC Berkeley campus.

View of San Francisco Bay
Seen from area overlooking Berkeley, CA. Note Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.