Day 4 comes to a close in San Rafael after an amazing meal at the home of my college roommate, Naomi---lamb, artichoke risotto, grilled tomatoes and a lemony salad that met the cool, cruchy veggie craving I have had for the past few days. As I recount the day, her husband David is strumming away on his nightly guitar practice. What a treat to have music to type by.
Being a 'short' day (12.5 miles), we treated ourselves to a later, relaxed start. The first leg of the day was a two hour rail traverse of the eastern edge of the Novato/San Rafael cooridor. Beautiful wide open marsh land with farm and bay vistas, deer families, and euctalyptus scents on a warm, crystal clear day.
High noon found us in an entirely different environment, square in the middle of the cool airconditioned food court of the Northgate Mall, eating yummy, well revered, Thai food (yes, a planned stop). A post lunch, off the beaten path, three mile round trip trek followed with a mission to visit the flagship Three Twins Ice Cream in San Rafael for their annual 'free scoop day.' As we neared our mecca, a honking horn revealed a familiar silver van sailing by us with my friend Annie and her girls waving madly---far out, we had ice cream company! After a leisurly hour of visiting with Neal (the owner, and the 'Annie clan', swapping samples of allspice, milk coffee, bittersweet chocolate and blood orange sorbet, the stomp continued.
As the day's trek wound down, our rail travels came to an abrupt end at a barricaded tunnel. A vertical hillside scramble and some bush wacking to locate the best route out resulted and we soon found our way through neighboorhood streets to the doorstep of our San Rafael hosts.
A much needed cool pool dip at my dad's hotel, a cold hops based beverage and a hot shower, rendered me ready to 'walk on.' Good thing, tomorrow is a big one!
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