8:45am | february 6

T E N N E S S E E   V A L L E Y

marin county, california

Feeling that I am escaping winter while the rest of the country is experiencing bizzaro weather is a recurring thought for me lately.  We are thinking about a possible move to Seattle where the winter is real and dark and long and rainy so I am finding myself lapping up every sun ray, long shadow, and green mountainside I can find. I feel like Leo Lionni's character in 'Frederick The Mouse' gathering up images to sustain and inspire during the long winter months.

One of my favorite sunny day hikes is in the Tennessee Valley in Marin County which is across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco. You quickly climb above the Pacific Ocean and look up and down the sunny (albeit sometimes foggy) California coast.