As promised, I did venture out to San Ramon and Danville (California) to see about new home development sites and while walking through the many 4000 square foot ‘family homes’ I felt no desire to uproot and move out of my old house and into one that felt so not like a place I could call my home. I suppose I love the old, the charming architecture, creaky floors, slanted walls, and my ocean view too much to consider anything but investing in upgrades – electrical, structural and a professional landscape, and a polish on the old hardwood floors. This is something I am now one hundred percent certain I want to tackle.
But I did walk away with some ideas of course, in decor 🙂 Bathroom tile, bay windows, landscape, a dedicated laundry space, tile work and more
On Sunday, we drove out to Tiburon with hopes the fog remained at bay, San Francisco bay and for the most part it did. We managed to sightsee this fair town in a whole different spectrum. Meaning we’ve often driven to Tiburon for a lunch and then back, but have never trekked up the trails, or walked along the bay, or seen the lagoon community of Belvedere and much more. It idea of seeing similarities in European towns added to the charm.
We drove up hill first, in search of a trail and the old Saint Hillary Chapel – which naturally google maps had trouble getting us to – due to the dozen winding roads leading to the dead ends, suggesting we walk the rest of the way. Which would have been nice if we were able to actually park in the very private neighborhoods. So after thirty minutes we decided to give up and proceed to the waterfront and sure enough I saw the chapel and we followed a path to the small parking lot and enjoyed the best of views
Old St Hillary Chapel where many small weddings take place naturally
love the idea of old historical finds
next we walked the old rail trail – 3 miles in each direction, taking in the sites – can you imagine the railroad tracks, which the last of were removed in 1968 for this very reason – to create a walking/biking trails.
We stumbled upon a beach – and spent a while there just soaking it all up. See my Instagram feed for the video
While reading all the plaques along the way, one story touched my heart – Blackie’s pasture – a stray horse who spend 40 years apparently in the very spot, alone from 1926-1966 where locals fed him, got to get close to him and appreciate his presence.
Close up of a statue of Blackie where I loved hearing a mother explain to her three year old daughter where Blackie was
Another uphill drive on a windy road, led us to the view of Belvedere Lagoon and all the charming homes perched along the waterfront. I wondered if anyone living there would ever sell their property, and we left the area certain no one would be in their right mind to give up such a beautiful setting
The most beautiful of homes were perched along the hillside, reminding me of Portofino, Lake Como, Lake Thun and many other coastal towns in Europe.
My dozen or more photographs does not do justice to this polished town where next time around I plan to take the ferry over from San Francisco and spend a day once again soaking it up.
The mood for this week is hopefully to maintain the happy feelings from Sunday’s discovery and spend the days hopefully sharing all the meals I plan to make for the family and naturally my conversations with my mother and other travel related shares.
Hang in there and hopefully you had a wonderful weekend.
Have you seen this film?
rawsilkandsaffron.com 