We are now staying at “Marin RV Park”.
It’s hard to say where it is, except that it is near the Marin headlands, i.e. the hunk of land that the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge is anchored to. Some maps call this area San Rafael, others call it Corte Madera, and still others call it Greenbrae (that’s what the GPS calls it).
The RV park is adjacent to U.S. 101 (on the west), and the Corte Madera marsh on the east. In the distance, to the east, the imposing San Quentin prison is clearly visable.
The RV park itself is, basically, a parking lot with full hook-ups, bathrooms, a laundry, and a pool. It is situated immediately adjacent to a couple of run-down mobile home parks and an industrial area. The spaces are very tight with little privacy and just enough room to extend slide-outs.
If you were to fart here, everyone would hear it.
Three things make this RV park work: (1) There is an easy access to the marsh area, where dogs can be walked along an old, abandoned railroad line and then on a trail into the marshland: the dogs love it…
(2) The park is located nicely with respect to shopping, local restaurants, and even an animal hospital right outside the entrance, and San Francisco is only a twelve minute drive south (over the Golden Gate Bridge)…
and, (3) Just north of the RV park, across a bridge or two, about a 15 minute walk distant, is the Larkspur ferry pier. For $12, the smart folks take a 35 minute boat ride across the bay to San Francisco.
So, that in itself is a major selling point for this RV park, as driving into and within “The City” is awkward.
San Francisco is one of the most urbanized cities in America, with population density in the 18,000 persons per square mile range. As with most very large, congested cities, there are many one-way streets, which make driving a real adventure for tourists. Yesterday, we got onto Van Ness Boulevard, needed to make a left turn to get to Union Square, and inched our way south a couple of miles before we could find a way to actually go left. It seems like every major street has construction going on, which compounds the problem. We drove 12 miles from our RV park in 15 minutes, and then the next mile took us 45 minutes of nail-biting adventure. It sucked.
We should have taken the ferry.
All we did in San Francisco was buy a couple of bras for Charlie at Macy’s and then had a nice lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. However, it was nice to get out of the rig and to appreciate the fact that we don’t have to live in such a concrete jungle.
Cheesecake Factory:
Here’s Charlie at Macy’s, happy to have found a bra that fits.
In retrospect, we could have avoided the hassle by driving down the street about one mile from the RV park, where there’s a Nordstrom department store and a Cheesecake Factory restaurant (that we visited earlier in our stay). I’m sure Nordstrom sells bras.
The weather here has been outstanding: mid-60’s to mid-70’s in the daytime, lots of sun, with cool nights in the high 50’s. Other than our RV park, the area is pretty, with lots of large trees on the hills and water in the marsh and the bay. There are quite a few of those houses built on stilts just north of us near the Larkspur ferry terminal.
Today, Charlie and I are going into Richmond to visit the Wal Mart and get her glasses repaired.
The dogs have been left alone several times while we have been here, and they seem to do well. Yesterday, on our S.F. trip, the dogs were by themselves for 5 hours. They seem to find things to do while we’re gone…
Baby has blended right into the pack: no chewing on things, no peeing or pooing in the rig, etc., and the other two dogs have adjusted to her energy.
She’s turned out to be a very sweet dog.
Booger is still on the mend from her gastrointestinal illness. She’s listless, not her usual playful self, and seems generally tired this week. I’m hoping that this is due to the antibiotics that she’s been taking. Her poos are starting to look better, with very little blood. Must have been something she ‘et.
Jay Jay is fine, just killing time until the dinner bell (or, poker game).
We will be heading for Monterey Bay on Monday. Hopefully, the dogs will have more room to explore, and maybe we will get in some beach time.
