The Bay Weekend...

The GG on the way to Marin

A weekend in San Francisco is always a fun time. But to be specific, I was not really in San Francisco, I was in Marin. This was one of those Planes, Trains and Automobiles type weekend. I flew into Oakland International and had to get to the City so I got on BART (the subway system) and rode threw Oakland and under the bay to San Francisco.

It is about 30 minutes on the train to get down to where I was meeting my brother, since it was Friday night the traffic was going to be heavy so I wanted to get to a spot where we could miss the worst of it. I hopped off the train and met my brother and we then had to slog north on the west side of town, we were going to be going over the GG, that’s the Golden Gate, so we didn’t need to go through downtown. My brother had to work late so that is why I was meeting him in South SF. Usually we meet in downtown or he just picks me up at the airport. We were lucky the World Series was not playing, it would have been crazy to try to drive in town then. So once we met up we started the drive, it wasn’t that bad but a slow steady progress, finally we made the bridge and we were in Marin county.

Tomalis Bay Oyster Company

The plan was to drive out to a friend’s house in west Marin, we would be touring that area on Saturday so it was a good starting place, though the first order was to pick up supplies. We stopped at a Latin market in San Rafael and stocked up on Chorizo, cilantro, Onions, tortillas, eggs and cheese. The other things we needed were already at the destination. The drive out was a winding drive through the hills of Marin, the one things was Deer, lots of Deer and they always seem to jump out into the road. This was no exception for us, as we came to an open area, three deer darted into the road and we had to slam on the brakes. Luckily we didn’t hit one, though we could have had a nice BBQ if we did…

Oysters on the grill

The Western

We made the house in a decent time, unloaded and were sitting with a drink in short order. Dinner? Yes, tacos using BBQed chicken. It was already 9 pm when we started cooking so dinner would be at 10 at least, very European dinning. Everything came together quickly and the tacos were great, grilled chicken, onions, cilantro, avocado, tomatoes, and my brother’s salsa. We made the ‘street tacos’ that we would get when we would go to Mexico, small corn tortillas loaded with the good stuff.

Late night drinks after dinner then off to bed, we were getting up early so we could head out and start the weekend. Well that was wishful thinking… Morning came and went and we were still trying to get going.  We finally got out the house at noon and started the day with more tacos, this time egg and left-over chicken with some chorizo. Good stuff. The plan was to meet up with a friend at the Tomalis Bay Oyster Company and enjoy some fresh oysters in the sun.

In the Western Saloon

Beautiful weather, for late October it was wonderful, like summer really. Not a cloud in the sky, almost 80 degrees and we were baking in the sun! We found a good table at the oyster place, bought a dozen to start, laid out our supplies and started to eat. Beer of course was there, as was hot sauce and cheese and crackers.  A lot of people come and BBQ the oyster plus other things, but we just had them raw. Our friend arrived as did three dozen more oysters.

Sailing

After four hours we were tired out and the sun was taking its toil. We wanted to BBQ again so we needed to stop for steaks, but there was one more stop before that. We wanted to go to this cool old bar in the town of Point Ryes Station, The Western. It is like an old west saloon, has been there for a hundred years and has lots of character. A couple of drinks, I had scotch, and off to a local meat shop for steaks. Back at the house we started to prep for dinner, a few more drinks and fired up the BBQ. We had about a dozen oysters left so they went on the grill first. We topped them with chopped Chorizo and onions, then drizzled some beer over them to give them a good Mexican flavor. They were so good!!! By the time the steaks we done, we were as well. My brother made mushroom risotto to go with the steaks, it was over kill… Too much food, lots to drink and we were finished for the night. We tried to watch a movie but that just didn’t last long, sleep was the order and off we went.



No wind...



Sunday morning again brought a late start, but one final push to do away with the last of the Chorizo and eggs, yes more tacos. We were going to sail so we had to swing by my brothers to grab what we needed. Loaded the car with sails and supplies, then off to the boat. Again beautiful weather, the bad thing, not much wind. We headed out and killed the motor, and basically just drifted with the tide. Radio playing, sunshine, a few drinks and just relaxing on a wonderful weekend. I had to fly out that nigh so we couldn’t stay out all day, a few hours of relaxation then we needed to bring the boat in. We cleaned up and I had to head to the airport.

The southern Tomalis Bay

I always love to go to the bay area, this is a wonderful region and there is so much to do, even if you don’t have a boat. The Tomalis Bay Oyster Company is about a 45 minute drive from San Francisco, just south of Marshal. The Tiburon area of Marin is a close town with great views and water front, plus it is a quick ferry ride from downtown San Francisco. The Western is in downtown Point Reyes Station, about 5 minutes from the Oyster Company. If you want to live like a local, try these places the next time you make it to the bay.