womantraveler

Fog City Escapes: Mill Valley

After 10 days of temperatures in the three digits, the San Francisco Bay Area welcomes back the fog. She dropped our temperatures as much as 30 degrees! Tourist or local, one of the best places to appreciate the advantages of the fog-sun summer mix is in Marin County's bohemian Mill Valley, typically in the '70s by day and the upper 50s-60s by night (but in early July sweltering near 100 degrees).

This is the way it works. Summer days in Marin County are typically glorious -- on average lingering in the 80s at the hottest and without much humidity (at least by East Coast standards). Mill Valley, situated closer to the ocean than some areas of the North Bay, gets a little more fog in the evenings and mornings, seen as nature's air-conditioning. When womentravelers set out on their morning hike, they're likely to experience cool fog and winds like this.

But the gloom usually clears up by late morning -- and, if it holds, sunshine is always just a few miles north. None of this should be much of a surprise to anyone familiar with Cape Cod. In fact, part of the charm for the cooler, but usually sunny summertime in Mill Valley is its East Coast look. If you blinked, you’d think you were back in New England or in western Cape Cod from Woods Hole to Falmouth.

Originally Mill Valley received visitors by train escaping foggy summers in San Francisco, and now they arrive by car. Positioned at the foot of Mount Tamalpais, the half-mile-high summit that presides over Marin County north of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, Mill Valley was once the depot for the now-defunct Mount Tam Railway. Its polyglot spirit comes from the nature-lovers, artists, intellectuals and vintage ‘60s hipsters who enjoy the remoteness of the shrouded redwood canyons, yet turn out en force for the coffee shops, gourmet wonder Mill Valley Market and chic-chic clothing shops.

Fog City Escapes: Larkspur

Bottles of wine are half-price in July at chef Bradley Ogden's restaurants in Larkspur, 30 minutes north of San Francisco, and on this summer night, at that great rate, we girlfriends enjoyed a resplendent Marimar Torres (Russian River Valley) Chardonnay for $22 at the historic Lark Creek Inn. Down the bar, a gregarious patron was sharing a $200 bottle of Pinot Noir with those close by and unfortunately we neither got his name's or the wine's. But such is the spirit when the wine connoisseurs are out. Next door, Ogden’s other local and more casual resto, Yankee Pier, offers the same July deal. Together the two of them convey home-towney Larkspur, which is as quaint as its name.

Sheltered by towering redwoods, Ogden’s properties and the mountain side of Larkspur resemble a Yankee village – the small downtown is in fact is one of America’s irreplaceable “hometowns” on the National Register of Historic Places. Built within a redwood stand, the yellow clapboard Lark Creek Inn was a farmhouse-style mansion back in the 1880s, and the remains of the area’s first winery stand not far away. In this town of split personalities lie grand Victorians, Craftsman bungalows and stucco cottages – decorated by colorful gardens of hollyhocks, roses and, yes, larkspur, and protected by the foothills of Mount Tamalpais. One of the big efforts locally is to save and restore the 1936 Art Deco gem, the Lark movie theater.

The other half of Larkspur is a bayside village down Corte Madera Creek, across three village-style outdoor malls and on the east side of US 101. Transportation and water anchor this end – small homes with boat docks, biking along marshland paths, kayaking, sailing, houseboat “ark” communities and ferries to San Francisco and nearby islands and peninsulas. Close your eyes and it's a minimscule Cape Cod village. As an escape from San Francisco in the foggy summers, sunny Marin County's history is written across Larkspur’s past – Miwok Indians, whaling ships, sawmills, ranches – and now boating, hiking and preservation of lovely spaces.

Lots of things to do, along with good dining and shopping in Larkspur and other parts of Marin County, all an easy jaunt from the city or other parts of the Bay Area.

Shopping:
Downtown Larkspur: L’Ambiente (gifts, accessories, pottery and glassware), 476 Magnolia Ave. (415) 924-2936
Book Passage – well-known feistily independent bookstore that drew 1200 to an Al Gore book-signing this month for his "An Inconvenient Truth"
Town Center Mall (Container Store, Pier I, Sur la Table, See’s Candy and West Elm home furnishings, among the options)
Larkspur Landing (mostly restaurants and small businesses and a very comfortable Marriott Courtyard
The Village Mall (Nordstrom, Banana Republic, Macy’s, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, among others)

Dining also includes:
Picco
Emporio Rulli cafe and bakery
Ward Street Cafe
Il Fornaio (in Corte Madera Town Center)
Noonan's (at Larkspur Landing)

About Womantraveler

I am a writer and journalist who has had a love affair with travel from my earliest memories. My parents, who served in World War II, brought home exotic figurines, carved wood boxes, inlaid vases, saris and other memorabilia from India and China. I was so intrigued by them and the stories they seemed to tell. My father, a watercolor artist, painted many of the scenes he observed as a pilot during the war -- and these paintings have surrounded me for my entire life.

And, with the road trips we would take in the stylish automobiles that were part of the 1950s mid-century culture, I began exploring many worlds outside central Ohio, where I spent my early years.

I've written a new book about the iconic hometown life that many of us Baby Boomers experienced in the 1950s. The Artist's Eye: Vernon P. Johnson's Watercolors of 1950s Small Town America shows Mount Vernon, Ohio -- heartland America -- at mid-century through his paintings and our family memories. I hope you'll take a look and find your own history -- or that of your family's -- in there.

Professionally I am owner and principal of Johnson Consulting, a strategic communications firm that provides integrated marketing communications for nonprofits of all sizes and small businesses. Our clients are primarily colleges, universities, medical centers and community nonprofits seeking fundraising and marketing communications that tell their story, describe their distinctive essence and connect them more closely to their audiences --  and we partner with other consultants in strategic planning, market research and other activities to enhance organizations' positioning, relevance and value for their multiple constituencies and stakeholders.

As a strategist and practitioner, I've built and managed marketing, branding and fundraising communications initiatives and staffs in complex organizations and had some extraordinary experiences on the frontlines as a journalist with major news media such as The Washington Post and Miami Herald. My favorite interview ever was with Paul Newman, on the set of the film Absence of Malice. I stood in line two nights in the wee hours to be chosen as an extra in that film -- and I was. Blink and you'll see me -- or miss me -- in two newsroom scenes!

Before starting my consulting business in 2005, I spent 12 years in senior communications positions at Georgetown University, Georgetown University Medical Center and Loyola Marymount University. And before that, for 20 years or so, I was a staff writer for The Washington Post and later a correspondent for USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Miami Herald, Miami Magazine, the Boston Globe and other publications focusing on news, politics, business, health, science, religion and lifestyle topics -- and won several magazine awards.

Memberships -- International Association of Business Communicators, Public Relations Society of America and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. I've served on the nonprofit board of directors of To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation in Marin County -- and owe a big debt of gratitude to an excellent education at Duke University.

Turkey: the Great Eclipse 2006

Here's the final installment of our 4-part interview with former Washington Post foreign correspondent Joanne Omang on her girlfriends trip to Turkey.

Q: Talk a little about the special experience of going to Turkey for the full eclipse in March 2006.

A: The rational mind says an eclipse is utterly predictable and lasts maybe four minutes if you’re lucky, so why bother to travel to see one? But the whole event takes about four hours and is truly startling and, at a deep level, very eerie.

At first, as the moon begins crossing the sun, the light feels gradually thinner, like winter has come. Each bit of dappled sunlight through tree leaves has an amazing crescent shape, the shape of the light beam coming down.

When the moon at last obscures the entire sun, totality is sudden: the sky turns to midnight, the stars come out and what used to be the sun is a ring of fire around a black disk. A cold wind rises. The birds go nuts (they somehow know it’s not a cloud) and all around the horizon it’s suddenly sunset. Everyone who sees it just gasps.

So much to register, so little time! And in your gut, at a level so deep your rational mind has no power over it, a tiny fear arises: what if it doesn’t come back?  You know this is silly but there it is. It probably goes back to when we were all lizards. When totality ends and the sun gradually returns to its former glory, you can’t help a small feeling of relief. We survived another one!

Islamic tradition recognizes this unsettling reaction. Mohammed told his followers in 632 AD that a solar eclipse was not an omen or the result of anything humans had done but was merely evidence of God’s control over all things. Pray together during an eclipse, he said.

In Turkey I was very lucky to see the March 29, 2006 eclipse at the site in Konya of the tomb of the 12th century Sufi poet and mystic Rumi. His followers are the famed whirling dervishes, and their whirling is a form of prayer: the left hand reaches to the sky and the right toward the earth, and the world revolves as they do. They whirled before, during and after totality, reassuring the rest of us that the earth continued stable on its axis. Any traveler to Turkey should try not to miss seeing the dervishes perform.

Women Talking Turkey 3

Here's part 3 of our interview with former Washington Post foreign correspondent Joanne Omang on her girlfriends trip to Turkey.

Q: How can girlfriends going together create a stellar trip in Turkey (eg, without guys)?

A: Plan to indulge the girl-group whims that would make a man roll his eyes, like shopping.

• Make a day-long expedition out of finding the perfect set of tea glasses or painted ceramic plates or a hallway rug.
• Walk and window shop for hours, look at a hundred carpets between museums and bargain hard for the perfect one (but smile and accept a glass of the ubiquitous sugary tea while you do it -- that’s part of the sport of shopping here). It’s a great way to see the local life en route.
• Then allow yourselves the down-time your guys might not: spend two hours gossiping over Turkish coffee after lunch at a waterside café. Visit the Turkish bath (hamam) every day. Have a different kind of kebab at every meal – shish, doner, fish, vegetable, chicken, lamb, burger, with yogurt, with tomato sauce, with onions, with pita…you get the idea. And don’t stint on the baklava – you’ll walk it off.

Q: Special tips about what to pack and wear? 

A: Two pairs of walking shoes are a must so you can alternate between them. Many streets are cobblestones so save the heels and tottery platforms for cab-ride evenings. Make sure to maximize your camera memory –Turkey is one wow-shot after another.

Let your credit card company know you’re going to Turkey so they won’t think someone stole your card and deny approval for the cost of that fabulous tribal necklace.

Q: What about eating?

A: Turkey has expansive culinary riches. Eat eggplant dishes whenever you see them on the menu—all delicious and the specialty of the region, with meat and without. Stick to the bottled water, but the tea and coffee are always safe and the salads are trustworthy. For raucous local color, try the Pandeli restaurant up in the walls of the Egyptian (Misir) Market.

Our best and most memorable meal was at Asitane, a sophisticated white-tablecloth restaurant in the Kariye Hotel, out by the city walls and near the spectacular Kariye Museum and its priceless Christian-era mosaics. The restaurant serves classic Turkish dishes including items from a sultan’s imperial menu of 1539.

Fog City Escapes:Tiburon Summer Nights

Across the San Francisco Bay in Tiburon, we have escaped Fog City for sunny Tiburon summer nights. We who delight in the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer, as in all seasons, know how to position ourselves: a glance out the window or from a near hilltop lets us know where the fog is and where it isn't. Tiburon, north across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, is happily often in the "isn't" zone.

That's why back in the 19th century the early visitors to this area started populating Marin County as the summer escape to San Francisco, fondly known as Fog City. While the city may be cloudy in the low '60s in by day in the summer, Tiburon often is sunny and in the upper 70s or 80s. That's why back in the late 19th century, the village of Tiburon and the city of San Francisco became inextricably linked.

Initially visitors came down from Sonoma to the north and took ferries across the Bay six miles to the city. Then San Francisco residents and tourists discovered that they could leave the fog zone by summering a few miles north in Tiburon or on connected Belvedere Island, now crammed with elegant and spacious New England style summer homes dating back from the 1800s. The railroad eventually came here, and though the last train out ran to Tiburon in 1967, the locals along with insider tourists remain. Once a dairy farming area covered with more cows than people (and before that an Indian village), the bayside village of Tiburon is a simpler sister to better-known Sausalito. For those who like quiet, less touristy pretense, and small, Tiburon is a great day trip. (Overnight accommodations are available but limited.)

So if you're in the Bay Area by summer, hop over to Tiburon. From the city you can drive north across the Golden Gate Bridge or take the ferry. In Tiburon, you'll find a faint reminiscence of a Cape Cod clapboard village, a couple of blocks of shopping (my favorite is stylish Paparazzi, the sister of the hip North Beach store in San Francisco), waterside eating (great views but not high-end dining) at Sam's, pub-cuisine at Rooney's, lovely strolls -- and Tiburon Friday Nights in summer. We always gravitate to Italian Servino's, where the food is dependable and the music festive. The main street is closed off these fun Fridays and the restaurants serve outside. It's pretty local and family but everyone is welcome -- and the spirit is full. From here you can take the ferry to Angel Island for a day-long outdoor excursion of hiking, biking and other natural bliss.

For overnights, check out the Water's Edge and the newly renovated The Lodge (after a $6.5 million renovation, the 102 luxury rooms are contemporarily cool, wireless and welcoming to business groups --  but the restaurant, it is said, is still working out its service and food quality). Marin County is relatively small, and there are plenty of nearby places to stay.

Paris Sizzles on the West Coast

We love Paris when she sizzles -- especially nine time zones away in San Francisco. And as Bastille Day 2006 approaches, those of us who find ourselves in Fog City for the annual celebration are delighted that the organization Paris Through Expatriate Eyes is headquartered here. For this year's Bastille Day, we look forward to "Le Jazz Hot" from the Quartet of the Hot Club San Francisco (not to miss, from a fan), popular fiction writers Diane Johnson and Cara Black and Changing Times, the latest cinematic romantic reprise of The Last Metro starring Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve.

Women Talking Turkey 2

Here's part 2 of our interview with former Washington Post foreign correspondent Joanne Omang on her girlfriends trip to Turkey.

Q: What practical tips do you have for womentravelers to Turkey?

A: Turks are Moslem, so you’ll need to wear a scarf over your hair if you visit a mosque (and take off your shoes before you enter). But the culture is firmly secular so you can wear jeans or sleeveless dresses, too. Otherwise, use what you already know about travel anywhere: dress modestly, don’t flaunt your jewels or your money, carry a smallish bag close across your body, be extra careful at night and leave your valuables and your passport in the hotel safe.

Istanbul is a city like any other in that sense – it has more than 10 million people, not all of them nice. But Turks are used to tourists by now, and their culture honors guests.

• Ask a shopkeeper to take photos of your group with your camera, and she will offer you a glass of tea.
• Ask a local for directions to the Hagia Sophia, and chances are he’ll take you there personally.
• Don’t be afraid of walking anywhere alone or with a friend – getting lost in the narrow winding streets is part of the fun.

Q: What are the best hotels for women?

A:  A dozen good and economical ones cluster in the Old City (Sultanahmet) neighborhood, many with stunning rooftop views of the monuments, the minarets, the Golden Horn. We loved the Hotel Turkoman, www.turkomanhotel.com, half a block off the main square, but ritzier accommodations are available nearby, including a Four Seasons.

Plan everything you need for your trip at http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/ the website of former Peace Corps volunteer Tom Brosnahan.

Weekly Travel Blog Update

This site is a member of the travel blog network at Blogads, a group of the best independent travel blogs on the web. Check out some of this week’s headlines from other travel blogs in the network:

Fashionism: Milan Fashion Week Hi Jinx (Shortcut)

Greetings from Pescara, Italy (Travel Blogs)

New York podcasts: museums, music and more (NewYorkology)

Episode 48 - San Diego, California (Amateur Traveler Podcast)

Women Talking Turkey

Turkey clearly is one of the hot destinations these days and sister womantraveler Joanne Omang, former Washington Post foreign correspondent and one-time Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey, returned recently for a girlfriends trip. I caught up with my longtime pal for a four-part interview.

Q: Why is Turkey being “rediscovered” as a travel destination?

A: Turkey has more Greek ruins than Greece, more Biblical sites than Israel, more Crusader forts than France, great food and culture and nightlife and more jaw-dropping scenery and unique sights than anyplace else I’ve ever been. Also it has fabulous shopping, is reasonably cheap and perfectly safe for the most part. What’s not to like?

Q: Where should womentravelers put their focus?

A: Soak up the history in Istanbul. Start at the Hagia Sophia, my favorite building in all the world, the biggest and most breathtaking for nearly 1000 years, first a Byzantine cathedral full of marble from all over the earth and dazzling Christian mosaics, then an Ottoman mosque covered in tile and carpeting, and now a museum showing all its layers at once. Climb to the gallery on a circling stone ramp built for an emperor’s palanquin.

• Next door, the Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque, the only one in the world with six minarets, takes tile artistry to a whole new dimension, and the nearby Topkapi Palace, big as a small town, housed generations of sultans and harems and intrigue in mind-blowing splendor.
• Cool off with a visit to the spectacular Yerebatan Cistern, the underground reservoir that has kept the palaces supplied with water since Hadrian’s time, a forest of Roman columns.
• And put it all in context at the jewel-like Islamic Arts and Crafts Museum, famous for its antique rugs, set amid lovely gardens i n another former palace across the street from the Blue Mosque.

All these are within five minutes’ walking distance of each other – and your hotel too. But figure two days for just this much. By then you’ll be ready to soak up some history literally, in one of the area’s hamams, the Turkish baths. You can soak and steam yourself limp amid lion-headed gold faucets and Roman-era marble basins and then loll on a warm marble slab while shapeless old women exfoliate you – that is, massage and scrub you down with raw-silk mitts.