1) Airports: The closest airports to Stinson Beach are San Francisco International and Oakland International Airport. They are both about 1 hour from Stinson Beach by car. The drive is a combination of freeway driving and a windy trip of CA 1 over Mount Tamalpais. You may want to arrive in the daylight hours, as the drive can be a bit challenging.
The address for the house is: 267 Seadrift Rd, Stinson Beach, Marin, California 94941. If you cut and paste this address into Google Maps you can get driving directions from the two following airports directly to the house.
Here are links to Google maps to help you.
Oakland International Airport to Beach House:
View Larger Map
San Francisco International Airport to Beach House:
View Larger Map
2) Coordinating Transportation:
Orientation: Stinson Beach is in Marin County, AKA the North Bay. It is across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco (5$ Toll), or across the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge (4$ toll) (less famous but also lovely) from the East Bay (where Berkeley and Oakland are). This map may help those who aren't familiar with the city to picture the area. Note: Stinson Beach is right next to Bolinas in the upper left hand corner of this map, which is interactive. Click on any area to see more details!
Traffic: If you are arriving on Friday traffic will likely be heavy between 7am-10am and 4pm-7pm. If at all possible, it would be best for you to avoid these time for the actual driving portion of your trip. Of course, if you are taking public transit for any portion of your trip makes this less of a problem.
Parking: Lucy's family's house and the house we are renting are in a gated community with strict parking rules, so please keep me posted on your car count. If there are too many cars for the spots allotted to our houses I will need to contact Seadrift and make alternate arrangements.
Public Transit: Here are some websites for transit agencies that provide various types of transit through the Bay. There is public transportation easily accessible from both Oakland and SFO airports to most places in the Bay Area. There are no viable public transport options from the San Jose International Airport. Unfortunately when one travels between cities in the Bay Area one usually has to switch transport providers, but if you use Google Maps you can usually piece something together. Stinson Beach itself is more difficult to reach than other places in the Bay on public transit because it lies on the northwest side of a steep mountain called Mt. Tamalpais and has a windy road. The best way to get to this town is in a car. But if you want to explore the City and/or East Bay before or after the weekend or if you want to coordinate with other reunion attendees, public transport could help you save some money. For instance, you could fly into either of those airports and take local bus service or BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit, the subway) to the Ferry Building in San Francisco and take a ferry to Marin County, where you could possibly rent a car and/or get picked up by someone already there and carpool over Mt. Tamalpais to Stinson Beach. If anyone is interested in carpooling and coordinating I would be happy to offer my knowledge to help it go smoothly. Just ask!
http://www.goldengateferry.
http://www2.actransit.org/
http://www.bart.gov/
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/home/
3) Lodging -
The House: It is reserved and we have beds for 21 (including sharing beds). If more people want to come of course we can use air mattresses/tents/cots/etc. The additional house is $1,100 for two nights (June 4th & June 5th). We need to pay for the house 30 days before the reunion starts. Lucy and I don't have the cash flow to pay the whole amount ahead so, if you can come, I need to ask you to send me a check for your amount by May 1st. We will really appreciate it. For those of you who would like to keep the party rolling for the night of June 6th and into June 7th, we will have to consolidate into Lucy's house. Of course, there will be no charge for that night. :) Just to give you an estimate, if 21 people attend then the cost for lodging would be approximately $58.00 for the weekend. If more come, it gets cheaper, if less, slightly more expensive. So, please confirm with me as soon as you know you are coming.
Hotel Options - If anyone wants to stay in a hotel rather than one of the houses, there are two options in Stinson Beach and can be reached at the following website:
http://www.stinsonbeachonline.com/lodging.html
4) RSVPing: Once you make your travel plans, please let me know when you are confirmed to be attending. As soon as I have all attendees confirmed, I will post the amount per person on this very website for your convenience.
5) Food: In true Beach Getaway style, I anticipate that we will eat at home pretty much all weekend long. In order to avoid overburdening any one of us, I propose that we divide the food labor between us. I am thinking that those of us who are willing will submit a menu to me ahead of the reunion. You will be thereby signing up to be in charge of its conception. But you won't have to make it all alone. No! You will have a whole army of sous chefs at your command. You will simply be the point person for that meal so the mental labor can be divided, and no one person has to feel responsible for every meal. So, if you are willing to take on such a mission, please submit a shopping list for the ingredients for your meal, and I will go and do a big shopping to get everything we need for the weekend.
Note, Lucy's house has a BIG barbecue and a MONSTER stove, and is fully equipped for any type of cooking project. That being said, it might be a good idea to supply relatively simple recipes so that all of your sous chefs can provide assistance easily and the shopping will be easy.
For you gourmonds, not to worry. California's produce will sing in even the simplest dish!
Also, don't forget the vegetarians!
Friday Dinner: MacKenzie and Lucy will be in charge of Friday Dinner; hopefully can make it to the house by dinner time so we can kick off the festivities in style!
Saturday Breakfast:
Saturday Lunch:
Saturday Dinner: We were thinking a barbecue, anyone want to take that on?
Sunday Breakfast: Perhaps a big festive one to close out the "official activities?"
After Sunday, we anticipate their being a small enough group to "wing it." If a lot of people choose to stay through Sunday we can always plan more meals.
Unless you have a burning desire for a certain dessert, there is no need to plan them into your meals. Lucy and I have some things in mind that we will add to the collective shopping list.
6) Money for food. Since it is so difficult to anticipate the cost of groceries, Lucy and I think it would be easiest for us to put up the money for the groceries, and then tally up and collect each person's share once we are all together at the Beach House. If anyone has a different idea of how to handle the grocery money just let me know.
8) Weather. In June Stinson is likely to warm up to about mid 70s, but is usually foggy in the morning and cool in the evening. So, as you should everywhere in the Bay Area, wear layers!
7) Possible activities:
mountain biking: Lucy's house has some bikes we can use, and you can rent them here:
hiking
Kayaking on the Bolinas Lagoon
Surfing
Swimming in ocean and lagoon (very gentle, easy to swim)
Hot tubbing
Bird Watching
Leisurely walks
Sun Basking
Beachcombing
Stinson Beach is all about relaxing and enjoying nature and each other. So get ready to kick back!
If you are inclined, bring your hiking shoes or boots, a hat, water bottle and day pack. Great hiking on Dipsea trail or Matt Davis trail right at Stinson Beach.
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