Coastal Trail and Hill 88 Loop

Hello friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was really relaxing. Friday night our friend Shannon came up from San Jose and we went out to Bimbos for a Mustache Harbor concert. I am seriously obsessed with them, they're amazing! Otherwise it was pretty low key. We spent a good chunk of our Saturday at REI in Berkeley getting fitted for backpacks (yes, I realize how dorky that makes us sound). We want to plan a 3 day backpacking trip in the fall, and a longer trip next year. Hopefully we'll have better luck with Mt. Whitney permits next year! Yesterday we did chores around the house, and I worked on a couple blog projects. And of course we couldn't make it through the weekend without starting Season 2 of Orange Is The New Black! Man, I can't wait to watch the rest of the season. We're trying not to binge watch it too badly like we did with Season 1. It's dangerous having all the episodes available at once!

Okay, let's rewind a little bit. I need to catch you up on all the fun we've been having...

A few weekends back, Andrew and I headed across the Golden Gate for a hike on Saturday morning. We woke up to the sound of fog horns, and knew we could escape the cold just a few miles away in Marin County. As we get closer to summer, the weather in San Francisco starts to feel more like winter, so we escape to the sunshine every chance we get. 

We didn't want to drive too far, so we did a quick search for dog friendly hikes in Marin and found Hill 88, which departs from Rodeo Beach. Since Andrew surfs, he had been wanting to check out Rodeo Beach to see if it would be worth driving there to surf when conditions at Ocean Beach aren't great. So we decided it was the perfect spot for our Saturday adventure.

It was a beautiful day, but the higher we climbed, the stronger the wind got! We followed this trail for a 5.5 mile loop, then joined another trail along the coast to take in the scenery a bit and log another mile. We were almost blown into the Pacific it was so windy, Louis was not very happy with us! He is not a fan of the cold & wind. 

After our hike, we headed into Marin for a latte at Equator Coffee and some shopping at our favorite surf shop, Proof Lab. It was a perfect way to start our weekend. I'm so thankful that Andrew loves the outdoors and being active. It's fun that we both enjoy things like hiking and camping together. 

There are abandon Military buildings on top of Hill 88. It was pretty interesting to walk around up there and check it out and admire the amazing view of San Francisco, Marin County and the Pacific. 

The old buildings are covered in very unique graffiti, but I thought some of it was pretty impressive. I especially loved this buffalo and the way it wrapped around the corner of the building, and the owl was pretty cool too. 

Crazy hair from the wind!

Andrew did a little cliff jumping after our hike...just kidding, but it was so windy he could use his jacket as a kind of parachute and the wind would push him backwards when he jumped!