my favorite place on earth

for 5 years i have been anticipating a certain phone call. it is a call to come home. The phone rang at 6:30 am and we were on the road by 12:30pm...going home.

The reason for our trip home is not to be written about here. But we did find some time to tromp around the Marin Headlands, aka "my favorite place on Earth".

Before the headlands we made a very important stop...

Mom has a bench at the dog park she used to take Matilda to. I also took Matilda there....and Moose, too, once he came into the mix. The bench overlooks the span of the park, where dogs run and play and revel in all that it is to be a dog. It is a celebration of mom's time spent as a saver of pups. i am very proud of the work she did. Sometimes, i get pissed when people are sitting on her bench. I know that this is not the proper spirit to have. But i am selfish and i want to sit there. Not only am i selfish. I am also weird. when i sit on her bench, i lean my arm along the back of the bench, over the plaque. if my mom were sitting where the plaque is, i would have my arm around her.
So, off to the headlands. There are two ways to get there. One way involves the 5 minute tunnel, which i still call "the 6 minute tunnel". The tunnel itself does not take 6, or even 5, minutes to get through. But it is a single lane that is governed by a stoplight. Before the quake of '89, the red light took 6 minutes. then it was closed down for a very very long time. upon it's reopening, the light was changed to 5 minutes. it was a sign of the times, i suppose. people are so impatient.

This sign says not to "feed" or "approach" coyotes.
i remembered it as "do not encourage the coyotes".
my mind can be so hippy dippy at times.

The 6 minute tunnel:The Headlands is a stunning place. And it is also very full service. If you like nature, military history, beach, hills, graffiti, driving, hiking, surfing, wildlife rehabilitation, geology, ymca day camps, gigantic missiles, bird poo, and encouraging coyotes, this is your place. oh, and if you like fog, you're in for a treat.

So we drove and walked around quite a bit. Due to being at the gateway to the bay, there once was quite an attempt at a military presence. A lot of it was never even used for its original purpose. But how cool to find a place like this to go explore:
Here is the back end of it:
So Neil realized that he didn't have his preferred camera lens on his person. He hoofed it back to the car and i took in the view, which consisted of the oppressive feeling of being at the end of the earth. i heard footsteps and assumed it was Neil coming back. But no, it was some totally random dude. i watch too much law and order, i admit. but seriously...if you ever want to push someone off of a cliff, just to hear them scream as they tumble to their untimely demise, have i got the place for you!
So that guy totally wasn't a psycho killer. yay!

we hiked around a bit, in flip flops and a sweater that was purchased on the road, because we were awesome tourists who think it is sunny in california in the summer. ha ha.

Am i pointing at fog? is that even possible?You know you are a true lover of the Golden Gate Bridge when
not seeing it is how you love it the most:
rocks are neat!
So inside the bunker, there are rooms. Surprisingly, these rooms are not equipped with recessed lighting. whatever, Marin. Get your crap together. What, you can't afford it? Anyways, We found a room that we couldn't see into. Neil took a picture with his flash, and this is what was going on in there:

Then we had to walk back through the original psycho killer alley to get back to the car.

You know how in the movies, there is an innocent couple walking through a corridor of sorts and they you hear an extra set of footsteps? the couple picks up their pace and then so does the extra set of footsteps. then, more often than not, there is some stabbing. Well we got to go through all of that BUT the stabbing. We made it to the end of the tunnel and came across another couple in the daylight. extra set of footsteps was a really old scraggly dude who may or may not be the Zodiac Killer. I am just saying. contrary to how heavy handed the recent movie (which i loved, btw) was declaring Arthur Leigh Allen as the Zodiac Killer, his crap just didn't match. And then there were the murders in Jenner a while back....ugh, i need to find my happy place. oh wait, here it is!:

In all, our trip back to SF consisted of all of about 20 minutes in SF. The trip was about friends, family, nature, memories, and maybe the Zodiac Killer.....you know, the important stuff. Suck it, Fisherman's Warf. You aint got nothing on My Home.