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A day in Berkeley

Oxford St

Oxford Street across from the Berkeley campus

As a writer who works from home full time, it's easy to let inertia set in and never leave my house except to fill my cupboards. But I’m an explorer at heart—as is my husband—so we made a commitment to spend at least one day a month sightseeing or hiking somewhere within a few hours’ drive of our house.

Last weekend, we chose Berkeley. A few years ago, when I was visiting to give a workshop to the San Francisco Romance Writers, I ran along the water to the Berkeley Marina—and had lunch and dinner…somewhere—but I hadn’t been downtown since I was seventeen.

It was definitely time to go back. The decision was helped by the relatively short drive—about 75 minutes when the traffic is good, which it happily was earlyish on a Saturday.

I’m certain there’s lots more to do in this fun, pretty college town, but we started and ended with food—there are plenty of options for plant-based eaters like us (we chose Saturn Cafe and Flaco’s)—and spent the time in between visiting UC (Cal) Berkeley’s pretty campus, and exploring Tilden Regional Park, which borders the campus up the hill along the east side.

The park's botanical gardens have native plants representing California's wide variety of climates, and lots of quiet, green spaces to wander.

These are a few of my favorite shots from that day.

eucalyptus trees

I love the colors on the peeling trunks of the eucalyptus trees! Blue and gold are especially fitting since they're the University of California colors.

Sather tower

Sather Tower is hard to miss

view of SF

View of the East Bay and San Francisco (across the bay on the right) from Grizzly Peak in Tilden Regional Park

view of san pablo bay

View of San Pablo Bay from Grizzly Peak (facing NNW)

Gwen at botanical gardens

At the Regional Parks Botanic Garden

redwoods

Redwoods in the botanic garden

Found this guy hiding in the ferns at the botanic garden

Found this guy hiding in the ferns at the botanic garden

What are some of your favorite places to visit near you? (Or me, for that matter. I’m always looking for gems. 😉 )

Check out this page for more travel/road trip posts. Also, many of my small trips end up on social media instead, especially Instagram.

Tell your friends!

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