A Beach Kind of Morning. Since Dad will be cooped up recuperating from a routine surgery (checking on cancer remission) next week, and we were both up early, we decided to head to Stinson Beach for a little adventure, as well as try a new breakfast place. It was a stellar morning, and as we wound up the hill from Mill Valley we passed a long row of Eucalyptus trees, which were giving off their characteristic fresh scent very strongly. We stopped at a look out point just as we started climbing Panoramic Drive over Mt. Tamalpais. Once I hopped out of the car with my camera, you could hear so many birds singing sweetly from the trees - it was so happy and tranquil, and the view was great! You can see our progress to the town, and then our trip to the beach for a walk in the slide show above (I took a total of 90 photos, but tried to limit myself here!) I believe you can click on a photo to go through to a bigger version. We truly went over the river, and through the woods (green and lush), and down the coast just a little to the beach.

Parkside Cafe. The destination breakfast place was quite easy to find, and we were glad that we wanted to take the route over Mt. Tam since we found out that Rt. 1 is closed along the coast until March 28th. Mud slides routinely take out pieces of the road in winter, and I guess this winter must have been bad for it. I was hoping to take the coastal route back, but that was no longer an option. The staff at the Parkside Cafe were very friendly, and took care of us delightfully.

We enjoyed looking at the paintings (and patrons) around the restaurant while we waited for our breakfast.

We also enjoyed gazing outside the rather dirty window pane to a sliver of the beach, the round metal thing you can see in the photo in the middle of the path, is the vantage point from where I took the photos at the beach proper in the slideshow first above.

Dad ordered what he called a "lumberjack's" breakfast, blueberry pancakes and a scrambled egg. He enjoyed every last bite, and was glad for a beach walk afterwards!

I went Norwegian, and had a toasted bagel with lox. A variety of tastes, smooth salmon, salty capers, crisp red onion, cool and ripe red tomatoes with cream cheese that melted on your tongue contrasted with the chewy toasted bagel. A sensual delight. And what a great way to start the day! I made it back in time for my meditation class, and I already felt quite in the zone!