Tiiimber!
I’m a little late on this post, but a couple weeks ago, the Mr. and I headed up the Northern California coast for a weekend getaway with two other couples. Destination: Timber Cove. The guys got a great deal on Bloomspot and did all the planning -such a nice treat! We drove up on Saturday morning from San Francisco with our friends Mike & Moira, and met our other friends, Sean & Amber, at the hotel. Timber Cove is a couple hours away from SF, so we decided to make a mini road trip out of it. And boy did we enjoy the drive and all the stops along the way!
Our first stop was the lovely little town of Point Reyes. Moira and I checked out a cute little market and some boutiques while the guys grabbed a beer at the historic Old Western Saloon. Which, according to this article, has been “whetting Marin’s whistles since 1890”. I think the guys will attest.
It’s hard to tell, but in the picture below you have photographic evidence of Prince Charles visiting the the local watering hole in 2005. The saloon was a little dead at 11am, but still fun to check out, especially since we now know it’s kinda famous :).
Following the advice of our trusted road trip guides (Mike & Moira), the next stop was mandatory! The Marshall Store in Marshall, CA – voted 1 by by Travel + Leisure for America’s best seafood shacks . Before my visit to the Marshall Store, I only had one experience trying oysters before, and I have to admit that I wasn’t a fan. Buuuut, I was willing to try them again and I sure am I glad I did! I guess I just needed to have the world’s best oysters because these were amazing. We enjoyed some clam chowder, fish tacos, and bbq’d oysters. Delicious!
The rain started to clear up for the rest of our drive and we had some beautiful views, including a cow that somehow made his way to the wrong side of the road.
We arrived and Timber Cove and immediately got down to business – we grabbed a couple bottles of wine (that were included in our Bloomspot deal!) and made our way to the fire pit. Local wine, breathtaking views, and good friends – just a typical Saturday afternoon in Northern California!
Once Sean and Amber arrived we enjoyed some (more) wine and cheese in the lodge, which has a very homey feel to it, which of course I loved! Once the rain clouds moved on, we did some exploring of the property.
We took off our scavenger hats and made our way back to the bonfire where we met some new friends, enjoyed some great stories, an amazing sunset, and even saw some whales! In the words of Mike “it was epic”. What was particularly special was sharing stories (and wine) with our new friends at the bonfire.
After our amazing evening by the bonfire, we enjoyed some dinner and kept the rest of the guests awake played “the game of things” . Have any of you played it? Here’s how it works: one person chooses a question from the game and everyone writes down their answer on a small piece of paper (question and paper provided by the game). Each person then puts their paper in a pile. The person who originally chose the question reads the answers aloud and the group has to take turns guessing who said what. Each time you match the answer with the person who said it, you get a point. It can be awkward, depending on your crowd and the questions, but it’s really fun. Especially with all the “energy” we had with our group that night.
On our way back home the next day, we took a few wrong turns but were able to find our way to stop at the most amazing bakery – Wild Flour Bread. They have over a dozen different kinds of handmade breads available daily in addition to sticky buns, scones, biscotti and coffee. We enjoyed some tasty samples before deciding on a loaf of Fougasse – a mild sourdough bread with cheese & bell peppers. Uh-mazing. Highly recommend to anyone passing this way.
The weekend was a great time had by all. So lucky to have such great friends and live in a state where weekend trips like this are possible. Can’t wait for our next adventure!