....stepping BACK and stepping FORWARD...

Sometimes I feel this strong urge to ditch my city digs and rid of the noise, smells, city craziness and familiar sites and visit one of our surrounding smaller and quaint towns. Often we find ourselves making the short trek to Sausalito, CA.  Maybe because it is typically warmer than SF, or maybe because it reminds me so very much of my hometown of Santa Barbara, CA....or maybe because one of my husband and I's most FAV restaurants is there.....idaknow......but the eve before my birthday I was feelin' the need to leave.....SF.  We decided to let public transportation do the work and then rely on our own four feet to get us to dinner.  We had such a fun night.  Phones inside purses/pockets.  I took my camera to reconnect with it - it had been awhile - and we stepped back from our city....loved it, admired it, appreciated it........ventured into another city and walked a few miles to dinner.....taking in it's charms and character....the people, the changing light, the schedules of the working....the buildings and the push and pull of the ocean tide.....sometimes you have to take a step back from it all to find gratitude and inspiration.  Agree?

Here are a few photos from our dinner journey....

I love zooming in on the homes on Tiburon.....they always look back on SF.

Sausalito still retains this artsy, whacky, harbor living community - something that is being pushed out more and more in Santa Barbara.

a Volvo 122 and the side door of The Plant recording studios

these guys wanted some of our dinner

Walking back after dinner we winded through the bordering ship yards and caught the setting sun light at all different levels....the coastal Fall light is the perfect color of apricot....unmistakable in it's tone and carries a crisp cast.  It is my favorite time of the year.

waiting for the ferry to return back to our city

this sea lion playing in the last of the evening light

coming home to this site wasn't too shabby....