Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008 - (Page 80)

coastaltraveler Inverness By Robert Plotkin and the National Seashore unspoiled coastline. Drakes Beach, which is popular for picnicking, sunbathing, and swimming has a visitor center with natural-history exhibits. Beside it has the surprisingly good (for a park concession) Drakes Beach Café. Herds of elk At the northwestern tip of the peninsula hundreds of tule elk can be seen. Visitors find they can often get closer to herds of elk and take the best photos from inside their cars. In fact, deer, hawks, coyotes, bobcats, and other wildlife often stay put for easy viewing until viewers get out of their vehicles. Numerous hiking trails lead into the park from trailheads around Inverness. Maps are available free at the Bear Valley Visitor Center off Bear Valley Road. Recreation on the water Chicken Ranch Beach on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Shell Beaches I & II at the end of Via del Vista are excellent places to picnic. Blue Waters Kayaking, located in downtown Inverness, rents kayaks and conducts tours on the bay. Sailing is popular throughout the year, and white sails dot Tomales Bay on sunny weekends. Dining out Barnaby’s by the Bay is the only restaurant in town at the water’s edge; it adjoins the marina at the Golden Hinde Motel. Two restaurants are located downtown: Priscilla’s, which serves pizza, sandwiches and espresso coffees, and the long-standing Vladimir’s Czech Restaurant. Downtown Inverness Inverness offers two notable craft shops, Shaker Shops West and Bellwether gift shop. Inverness Store across the street is a grocery store with a deli. There is a garage in town (Drake Highway Garage), but it no longer sells gasoline. Inverness Park East of Inverness is Inverness Park, whose population is larger than Inverness’s but whose downtown is much smaller. Downtown consists of a cluster of small businesses. Perry’s Inverness Park Store is best known for excellent sandwiches. It also has fresh fish from Bodega Bay two days a week, and doughnuts each morning. Next door is the Busy Bee Bakery, which offers organic fare. Spirit Matters is an eclectic boutique selling “oddities and deities.” Limantour Rd On the west shore of Tomales Bay lie the towns of Inverness and Inverness Park, which began as communities of summer vacation homes—many are still home to Berkeley professors and are mostly occupied in summer and on weekends. Many of the homes are old, well built, and nestled into the crannies of the forested slope of waterfront. Whalewatchers heading to the Point Reyes Lighthouse — one of the best sites on the West Coast for seeing the southern migration of California gray whales — pass through these villages. The lighthouse is located within Point Reyes National Seashore which, along with Tomales Bay State Park, comprises more than 100 square miles, including 32,000 acres of coastal wilderness area. In the parks west of Inverness, travelers can find estuaries, windswept beaches, ranches with extensive pastures, and 80 miles of Where to Stay Manka’s Inverness Lodge Inverness • 415.669.1034 www.mankas.com The Golden Hinde Inverness • 669.1389 Point Reyes Lodging Inverness & Point Reyes 800.539.1872 Point Reyes Hostel In the National Seashore • 888.464.4872 www.norcalhostels.org/reyes Where to Eat Priscilla’s Pizza and Cafe downtown Inverness • 415.669.1244 Vladimir’s Czech Restaurant downtown Inverness • 415.669.1021 Perry’s Inverness Park Store & Deli Inverness Park • 415.663.1491 Where to Shop Bellwether •Downtown Inverness • 415.669.1540 Shaker Shops West • Inverness • 415.669.7256 www.shakershops.com 80 coastaltraveler spring http://www.mankas.com http://www.norcalhostels.org http://www.shakershops.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008

Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008 Contents Coastal Connoisseur Coastal Picks Coastal Scenario Coastal Art Coastal Driver Coastal Roadkill Coastal Eco Coastal Hotel Coastal Desert San Diego La Jolla Laguna Beach Malibu Santa Barbara San Luis Obispo Big Sur Carmel Monterey Santa Cruz San Francisco Sausalito Mill Valley Stinson Beach Bolinas Olema Point Reyes Station Fairfax Inverness Marshall, Tomales Sebastopol Petaluma Sonoma Coast Redwood Coast

Coastal Traveler - Spring 2008

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