Day 13: A Relaxing Evening in Bozeman

View from the Missoula to Bozeman drive

After a work-related conference call on the side of the road in Missoula, I drove the 3 hours to Bozeman. Devin was home from his hike and we went for another “hike” along the trails and hills near his mom’s (Ginny's) house. On the way home we stopped at the new Bozeman Public Library, where Ginny works, but she had already headed home.

Views from the hike

The new Bozeman public library

When we returned, Ginny was starting some dinner and together we sipped a delicious Argentinian white sparkling wine called “New Age,” which is apparently very popular in Argentina. Ginny made a fantastic dinner of butternut squash soup and stir fry with veggies from her garden. We sat in the backyard listening to the adjacent babbling brook and admired the view of the “M” on the side of the mountains (there’s a similar one in Missoula). After dinner, Devin and I walked to downtown Bozeman where the weekly "Music On Main" was just wrapping up, and the streets were filled with a rainbow of teenagers, college kids, and the old ones like us. Devin was almost run down by a fleet of 4 police cars when we weren't paying attention. 

In accordance with our elderly status, we went to the coffee shop and I ordered chamomile tea while Devin ordered a peppermint steamer. Back at the house, we were greeted with ice cream, berries, and delicious gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. 

Independence Day on Richardson Bay

Hello Tennessee Valley, you beautiful dramatic landscape!

For 4th of July Alice and I decided to visit her favorite spot in Marin: Tennessee Valley. The hike takes you 1.8 miles from a parking lot through the lush valley to an open coast beach. Tennessee Cove lies between Muir Beach and Rodeo Beach - both of which we visited last year on a coastal paddle. Dark sand covers the narrow, steep beach at the end of the trail. Alice dodged crashing waves to run around a point and explore another narrow beach on the other side. Ten minutes later I began to wonder whether it was time to send out a rescue team, but she soon sprinted back around the point.

Our busy itinerary didn't allow for much beach lounging, so we hiked back and drove to Alice's adorable apartment in Mill Valley. After much putzing around, mushroom marinating, and the usual discussions, we got our butts in gear and loaded Alice's boat on my car. Our mutual boredom with launching from Seatrek in Sausalito led us to scoping out a more stealthy launch site. After a couple unsuccessful launch-searching-adventures, we found a perfect launch site at the mouth of Coyote Creek in Richardson Bay. The only catch: we had to park in the Holiday Inn Express parking lot, which was built in the middle of the marsh in 1972 and will very soon be under water thanks to sea level rise. We stealthily and speedily unloaded the boats and launched from a tiny little rocky beach next to the walkway over Coyote Creek. The time was 7:15pm.

With 1 hour of sunshine remaining, we kept the paddle short and sweet. We headed south under the 101 bridge, visited the seals, and peered into some floating boat houses. A river of fog poured gently over the Marin Headlands, disappearing on its way down the hill.

On the way back, Big Purple and White Lightning posted for a photo shoot. These boats are going to miss each other! Luckily they'll have one last float together in the Mendocino sea caves in a couple weeks!

When we returned to the Holiday Inn, we were relieved to see Tess (my blue subaru) still parked and ticketless. I leave you with a portrait of Big Purple and a silhouette of Mount Tam:

Date: July 4th, 2014
Distance: ~4.5 miles
Time: ~1.5 hrs?

I should really start being more precise with these distances/times... the time is always a complete guess, and in this case so is the distance because our destination was a red sailboat, which google maps does not capture...