A Night in Mill Valley
Apr. 11th, 2023 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerSunday, 9 Apr 2023, 9am
Saturday night we stayed at a hotel in Mill Valley, a quiet suburban town not far across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. In being not far across the bridge it's also not terribly far from home— less than 50 miles. So why bother with a hotel?
Part staycation, part Friday Night Halfway (except it's Saturday), the purpose of this stay was to reduce driving time back and forth so we'd have more time and energy for doing stuff. Yesterday afternoon we drove and hiked around Hawk Hill overlooking the Golden Gate instead of simply driving home after visiting friends in the area. If we didn't have a hotel room lined up we might've opted not to do that. And for today, Sunday, we have ambitious plans to hike three waterfalls trails in the area. From Mill Valley the first of those is about 45 minutes away. From home it'd be 2 hours.
We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Mill Valley near sunset. We checked in, stowed our bags in the room, and took a moment to clean up. I also took a moment to snap this photo (above) from our balcony. We're overlooking an inlet of the San Francisco Bay, and that mountain in the background (far left) is Mt. Tamalpais— "Tam" as locals call it— the most prominent mountain in the area.
This is our second time staying at this hotel. We stayed for a night in January 2020. Our purpose then was the same as now: to do stuff both Saturday and Sunday, and spend less time driving back and forth from home. Even parts of the itinerary then and now are the same. Our aim for Sunday is to hike The Three Cs: Cataract Falls, Carson Falls, and Cascade Falls. Well, three of the four Cs, anyway. There were supposed to be 3 but last time we found a 4th we like better than #3. 😂
Now it's Sunday morning. The time saved by staying at the hotel meant I didn't have to set my alarm for 6:30am or earlier. Instead I left it on the usual 8am weekend setting and awoke maybe 15 minutes early with light streaming through the balcony door. Hawk also helpfully opened said door for fresh air; allowing in a blast of chilly fresh air that got me moving. 🤣
I'm sitting at the breakfast table as I finish writing this. It's about 9am now, so yeah, we're not in a huge rush. But again, our choice to stay here means that we can have a full day of activity without an early wake up call. Now, though, it's time to roll.
Saturday night we stayed at a hotel in Mill Valley, a quiet suburban town not far across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. In being not far across the bridge it's also not terribly far from home— less than 50 miles. So why bother with a hotel?
Part staycation, part Friday Night Halfway (except it's Saturday), the purpose of this stay was to reduce driving time back and forth so we'd have more time and energy for doing stuff. Yesterday afternoon we drove and hiked around Hawk Hill overlooking the Golden Gate instead of simply driving home after visiting friends in the area. If we didn't have a hotel room lined up we might've opted not to do that. And for today, Sunday, we have ambitious plans to hike three waterfalls trails in the area. From Mill Valley the first of those is about 45 minutes away. From home it'd be 2 hours.
We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Mill Valley near sunset. We checked in, stowed our bags in the room, and took a moment to clean up. I also took a moment to snap this photo (above) from our balcony. We're overlooking an inlet of the San Francisco Bay, and that mountain in the background (far left) is Mt. Tamalpais— "Tam" as locals call it— the most prominent mountain in the area.
This is our second time staying at this hotel. We stayed for a night in January 2020. Our purpose then was the same as now: to do stuff both Saturday and Sunday, and spend less time driving back and forth from home. Even parts of the itinerary then and now are the same. Our aim for Sunday is to hike The Three Cs: Cataract Falls, Carson Falls, and Cascade Falls. Well, three of the four Cs, anyway. There were supposed to be 3 but last time we found a 4th we like better than #3. 😂
Now it's Sunday morning. The time saved by staying at the hotel meant I didn't have to set my alarm for 6:30am or earlier. Instead I left it on the usual 8am weekend setting and awoke maybe 15 minutes early with light streaming through the balcony door. Hawk also helpfully opened said door for fresh air; allowing in a blast of chilly fresh air that got me moving. 🤣
I'm sitting at the breakfast table as I finish writing this. It's about 9am now, so yeah, we're not in a huge rush. But again, our choice to stay here means that we can have a full day of activity without an early wake up call. Now, though, it's time to roll.
