Last Thursday my friend Mickie took me on a surprise “girl” day. I always have a great time with Mickie – she’s super creative and always has tons of knowledge about all the “artsy” events going on throughout the Bay Area. On top of being a world traveler, incredible cook, fantastic party thrower, and amazing gardener she also has the time to remain incredibly well-read and be thoughtful enough to take me on a fun-filled, surprise belated birthday adventure.

All I knew before our day began was that she was picking me up in the morning and bringing me home in the evening. She did tell me to dress for hiking, bring a swimsuit and a casual and comfortable outfit to change into after hiking.

Oh, did I mention, she’s never ever late for anything either…so, promptly at 8:45 AM she arrived at my house to pick me up. The perfect girl day began with a stop at Starbucks – yahoo! Then we hit the road heading north. Let me mention another adoring thing about Mickie – she loves to drive! As I am someone who always seems to drive everywhere, it’s really nice to do things with someone else who likes to drive – simply put, it’s nice to be driven sometimes.

As we approached San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, Mickie let me in on the fact that we’d be going on our hike over in the Marin headlands. We’ve had a wonderful amount of rain this years, so the wildflowers have begun their show. The day was simply gorgeous!

The start of the trail - what a glorious day!
Some blooming wildflowers!

We climbed higher and higher and the views were incredible.

Looking out towards the Pacific
That's San Francisco tucked in there.
Perfect cloudless day!
Looking South
The view towards Marin

I love barns…some sort of thing I have – someday I want to travel the country just taking photographs of them. This one was just sitting out there waiting for me to snap a shot of it.

hello horses!

After our hike, we headed to Cavallo Point for lunch and spa treatments…WOW! Another amazing surprise. I hadn’t been there before, but I had heard about the beautiful views. If I had been more on it, I would’ve taken a picture of my lunch before I started eating. Unfortunately, I didn’t and the photo I took after beginning doesn’t do the meal justice – so I’ll just skip posting it. Also, I should’ve snapped photos in the spa – though the other people relaxing there might not have liked it very much. It’s a place not to be missed though, so click here for more information.

Here are a couple of views from the porch where we ate our lunch.

You can actually stay in rooms in these buildings - so pretty!

And here’s one of the spectacular views you can see from everywhere here:

Such beauty - wow did I feel lucky and blessed this day!

It was simply a perfect girl day – one we hope to repeat yearly. I’m all for it!!

Thank you Mickie!!

Lita