SF Bay Area day trip?

Down near Half Moon Bay is Ano Nuevo a beach where Elephant seals come to mate and give birth. It’s quite amazing to see them, although I think mating season might be over by April.

There’s some amazing hikes around Muir woods, if you want to do an outdoor thing that’s not the beach. Mt Tamalpais is also fun, if the weather is nice.

If you have a playful group of friends, spend part of the day in the Exploratorium—it’s not just for kids! Make sure you get to go into the Tactile Dome, it’s well worth it. Afterward you could do a beach afternoon/sunset thing, either at ocean beach or across the Golden Gate at the Marin Headlands. There’s some old military stuff around the Marin Headlands from when SF was a base for watching out for the Japanese in WWII.

You mentioned white water rafting, which is always fun. I’ve only gone on the American river outside of Sacramento, I’ve never heard of trips on the Russian river (but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist).

If you are feeling adventurous and like funky gritty artful landfills with a view of the Bay and strange nooks with art made out of scraps and quirky murals on pieces of old highway to explore, you might consider going for a full on do it up fancy picnic (bring that wine and tasty food and all the gear you can carry, and go dressed as 19th century Brits all in white on an elephant hunt or some sillyness) and head out to the Albany Landfill.

This is one of my favorite places in the Bay Area (used to be cooler before all the trails and fancy entryway, but it’s still a mind blower). It’s safe and a bit like Planet of the Apes land, just bring sturdy shoes and your explorer hat and get ready to laugh at the absurdity of it all. It’s on the site of a former landfill made of old construction/highway debris and metal slag that has since been overgrown with plants, wildlife and spontaneous art projects. Find someone to scout out a place to chill out there ahead of time, or really just take my word on a leap of faith and go for it. Stay for the sunset, bring blankets and flashlights to get back. Who do you want to be when you hit 30?

If you go, take pictures and let us know how it went!

Hmmm… Alcatraz?

You could go to Santa Cruz and hike around in the redwoods, go to the beach (have a night bonfire), walk on the boardwalk and hang out in a funky downtown. . . Or even continue a little further south to Monterrey and hit up the world class aquarium.