Our quick get-away on a busy holiday
A wonderful aspect of our Pied-à-Tire is the ability to stay in fun places for short durations, even during busy holidays. We are blessed to have so many wonderful destinations in northern California, however, living in the Bay Area with a population of approximately 8 million (the same as New York City), it can often be a challenge to avoid the crowds.
Being fully self-sufficient in our comfy, white van, we have many more options to “get-away”. Such is the case when we decide to venture out on a major holiday. Our approach is often to begin by scanning the HIPCAMP site to check out possibilities in our areas of interest.
We check HIPCAMP especially if we think that dispersed camping in the National Forests (Department of Agriculture) or BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land might be too crowded.
Through this process, we discovered a secluded and enchanting camp for our long weekend. The Meadow Grove of Hands Full Farm proved to be a perfect get-away. It was the ideal basecamp for our short expeditions to Tomales Bay, Point Reyes, Inverness, and the Sonoma Coast State Park. Lovely scenic drives took us to beautiful hiking trails with picturesque vistas.
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Because it is a working farm, we were able to pre-order a dozen eggs. We were instructed how to navigate the various fences (that needed to be kept closed for the livestock) and how to find our way around the inside of the barn, to the egg station, where we got to select our own “palette of protein”!
After a hearty breakfast, we began exploring the farmlands on our way toward the bay and the ocean. Beautiful rolling hills, quaint little towns, and spectacular views.
And there are plentiful opportunities for hiking, kayaking, viewing wildlife, great restaurants, and (of course) coffee shops and photo ops!
[click to expand] For those of you that will be near the San Francisco Bay Area, we highly recommend this beautiful part of Marin County. There are no entrance fees charged at Point Reyes National Seashore but given the numerous attractions inside the park, you may want to plan accordingly to gauge the crowds. Camping, in particular, fills up rather quickly and reservations are required through https://www.recreation.gov/ . The area is expansive so there are many stunning alternatives to the major “tourist attractions”.
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