Month: May 2013

Riding Bikes Among the Cherry Blossoms

/ Tara Taft / 2 Comments

How do you avoid DC’s traffic and tired feet at the same time? Consider taking advantage of DC’s Capital Bikeshare program and let your legs do the work.

Intent on visiting Washington on the day of the Cherry Blossom Festival, a day known for its crowds as well as its beautiful flowers, we took the advice of our hosts. We parked our car in Springfield, Virginia, and joined hordes of other tourists in line to buy the fare.

Crowded Metro station.

After a few minutes surveying the situation, we switched to the shorter line of ticket buyers and purchased a SmarTrip card ($10) for each of us, knowing with its discounted fares, it would pay for itself over the three days we would be in town (as well as more than pay for itself in the reduced stress and aggravation of waiting in long lines!).

Six stops away, we got off the Metro at Pentagon City and began looking for our next mode of transportation. We found a row of bicycles on Hayes Street, entered our credit card information on the machine and paid our $7 daily membership fee, pulled out three bikes, and hopped on.

Red bikes with yellow writing.

For the next couple of hours we rode our bikes around the Pentagon, along the Potomoc River and through Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Park, over the Arlington Memorial Bridge, past the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and along the Tidal Basin where cherry blossoms and onlookers provided many obstacles along the way.

Red car, gold statue, bikes across street

Crowd of people along base of memorial.

People hanging out beneath the cherry blossoms.

If you choose to try the Capital Bikeshare program, be forewarned the cost to ride the bikes increases exponentially with the time you choose to use it. It’s much more cost effective (and very doable), to ride a bike from one station to another where you can borrow a new bike. Each 30 minutes on a new bike is free. After 30 minutes on the same bike, an additional hour will only cost you $6, but renting the bike for 3 hours will cost you $30.

With stations all over the DC area, you can use the free app to find a location and determine the availability of bikes.

Trip taken April 2013.

Celebrating Buddha’s Birthday

/ Tara Taft / Leave a comment

Have you ever observed Buddha’s birthday? Buddha’s birthday is celebrated on different days by different schools of Buddhism, and on Sunday, April 28, his birthday was celebrated at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center near San Francisco.

Yellow poster for Buddha's Birthday

After driving past Green Gulch for years, on my way to the beach or to a trailhead, I finally stopped. We drove down the narrow dirt road edged by towering redwood trees, parked in the designated visitor lot, and walked toward the center.

Several white calla lilies

Although we missed the formal ceremony and pageant, we were in time for some birthday cake and were able to check out the organic plant sale. Green Gulch produce and its bread are sold at the farm and at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers’ Market from May through August.

Green Gulch Gardens

One of the San Francisco Zen Center’s three locations, Green Gulch Farm Zen Center is a Buddhist practice center in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition. According to its website, “Our effort at Green Gulch is to awaken in ourselves and the many people who come here the bodhisattva spirit, the spirit of kindness and realistic helpfulness. This is how we offer our understanding of Buddha’s Way.”

Large bell hanging from tree

Green Gulch Farm is located on Shoreline Highway about half a mile from the Pelican Inn and Muir Beach. Check out their website for accommodations and for upcoming lectures and programs open to the public.

Wildflowers on the Dias Ridge Trail

/ Tara Taft / 1 Comment

Looking for a gentle hike with spectacular views and a rewarding destination? The Dias Ridge Trail in Mount Tamalpais State Park, a few miles north of San Francisco, meanders just 3 miles from Panoramic Highway down to the Pelican Inn and Muir Beach.

As I hiked the trail last weekend, I discovered a few of the 20,000 or more coastal and grassland plants transplanted by volunteers before the trail opened in 2010.

Trail on hillside

Yellow and orange California poppies, pink wild geraniums, purple lupine, white iris, red Indian paintbrush, and even white wild strawberry blossoms brightened the trail.

I made way for the mountain bikers, runners, and faster hikers and dodged the abundant poison oak growing thickly among its look alike, the blackberry plant.

Shiny green leaves pf three

I stepped carefully to avoid a black beetle and watched him scurry across the dirt trail.

Black beetle near green sneaker

I listened to the sounds of rattlesnake grass when shaken by the wind and discovered that the blooming cow parsnip really does smell like warm corn tortillas.

After stunning sights of the Pacific Ocean and the ridge of Mount Tam on this warm April day, we stopped for lunch (fish and chips and a ploughman’s lunch) at the Pelican Inn.

View of Pacific Ocean in distance beyond green hills

White inn in distance at end of trail

Return to your car for a 6-mile (and more rigorous) round trip hike or send someone back up the trail to get the car, as we did. Muir Beach is only a short hike from the Pelican Inn.

If you go, follow Shoreline Highway from the Mill Valley/Stinson Beach exit off Highway 101. Turn right onto Panoramic Highway and park in one of the dirt pullouts just ahead. Follow the trailhead signs to reach Dias Ridge Trail.

Trip taken April 2013