When the sun beckons...

There is definitely a silver lining to working from home...when the sun shines, there's a pretty good chance that you can find a way to fit a little nature break into your schedule. And now that daylight savings has kicked in, there's even more time for hiking in the redwoods or strolling along San Francisco Bay.

Last week, after months of cold and wind, the sun finally appeared! (Actually, its timing was nearly perfectly scheduled to coincide with the official kickoff of spring on March 20.) The sun's tempting invitation meant it was time to dig out some trail maps, the hiking shoes and our trusty backpacks.

This is our first spring in Oakland so we're discovering a lot of new-to-us places and it's delightful to see the wide variety of topography this side of the bridge offers.  The East Bay Regional Park and Bay Area Hiker websites have been valuable advisors--recommending specific trails, sharing wildflower updates and providing detailed trail maps so we don't have to suffer getting lost!  And, though it's rather new, the Sierra Club Trails website (in BETA) shows great promise as a resource for outdoor enthusiasts.

Here's a quick list of our recent adventures:
* An invigorating ridge hike with some dramatic elevation changes (remember quarters if you head here...strange, but the lot has meters):  http://www.bahiker.com/eastbayhikes/lafres.html
* A volcano in our backyard?!  http://www.ebparks.org/parks/sibley
* The nation's oldest wildlife refuge, founded in 1869: http://www.oaklandnet.com/parks/parks/lakemerritt.asp
* Yes, there are redwoods in the East Bay: http://www.ebparks.org/parks/redwood
* Our closest park has some amazing views of San Francisco and allows visitors to watch the workings of the Oakland Port (or play in the sand!): http://www.ebparks.org/parks/middle_harbor

With a weekend weather forecast of sunny and 71, I suspect we'll be adding another journey to the growing list!