This Is Bolinas – Please Go Away

Supposedly they don’t like strangers in Bolinas, a secluded community of hippies, surfers and artists a few miles north of the Golden Gate. According to local lore, Bolinians (if that’s the term) have a habit of taking down street signs pointing to the one road that leads into their little town of some 1,200 people.

True, it’s easy to overlook Bolinas when you’re driving along Highway 1 – but I’ve always enjoyed my stay and never felt unwelcome. The scenery is breathtaking and the road into town worth looking out for. Just don’t blink, or you’ll miss it.

Life on a Pier

Some people like to live by the water, almost in the water, but still in a house rather than on a boat. In Sausalito, right across the Golden Gate, there are several communities-on-a-pier of this kind – in safe distance from the tourist crowds visiting this formerly quaint seaside town, yet close enough to San Francisco for a short boat ride across the Bay.