On August 24, 1991, my best friend Suzanne Lunt married her high school sweetheart, Todd Daggert. To celebrate their ten year wedding anniversary, they decided to hold a dinner party at Il Centro, next to Cucina Viansa, in Sonoma. All of us - Debbie Hannum, Charlene Magee, Marcheta Strunk, Lori Ballard, and me, along with our spouses and children - were invited to the party.

When I mentioned to John that Suzanne was planning an anniversary party, I stressed to him the importance of my presence there, since I was Suzanne's maid of honor at her wedding. "Even if we can't afford it," I said, "we need to be there, even if it's just for the weekend."

John then suggested that we turn our trip to San Francisco into a week-long vacation, because there were so many things that we could do while we were there. Initially, he thought it would be fun to drive to Yosemite National Park. He also thought about bringing his parachute with us so that he could make a couple of skydives at the Drop Zone in Lodi.

As we began researching the trip, though, we discovered some hidden treasures around the San Francisco Bay Area that were just begging for exploration: the Point Reyes National Seashore, the Muir Woods National Monument, and the Mendocino National Forest. Around February 2001, Backpacker Magazine featured an article about the Point Reyes National Seashore, and after I read it, I became very excited about it - that was where I wanted to go. I was so excited that I even took the initiative to make the reservations for our backcountry campsite!

Click on the links below to read about our adventurous trip to the San Francisco Bay Area...and enjoy!

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