When I first moved to California, I missed the mountains of my home state, Washington. Then I went to the beach and realized the wildness of a beach gave me with the same sense of beauty and nature’s grandeur I had been longing to see.  Here are the beaches I love in Northern California:

1. Ocean Beach, San Francisco–very much the urban beach, but to me having the Pacific within walking distance was amazing.  (Wow, I really am in California, I can’t believe a beach is this close).

2. Stinson Beach–long white sand beach with a snack shop serving soft ice cream cones and with a good boogie board rental shop.

3.  Bolinas Beach– no crowds, no snack shops, just one long beautiful beach with tide pools, buy a map to get there, the locals always remove the highway signs.  If they aren’t exactly welcoming, just know it isn’t you!  It is them-really it is them, they do not welcome because they want to keep it to themselves. No Banana Republics in sight and never will be.

4.  Santa Cruz Boardwalk–c’mon what is better than a college town with a surf attitude and a boardwalk?

5.  Pt. Lobos–just a beautiful set of trails bordering the smashing, crashing Pacific shore.

6.  The four beaches on Half Moon Bay because of the three mile hike that you can take to reach each one:

7.  Venice Beach (yes, I know there is also a Venice Beach in SoCal, let’s just say they are very different, no body builders at this one.)

8. Frances Beach

9.  Miramar Beach

10. Dune Beach

11.  Paradise Beach–sometimes a quiet little spot on San Francisco Bay is all I need, especially since it can be easily reached from the city within 30 minutes.

12. Muir Beach–I take my visiting tourists to Muir Woods and tell them I will pick them up later while I sunbathe at the beach and grab lunch at the Pelican Inn.  Just cuz I hate paying to see tall trees, when I can see them for free at a number of other places with a lot less people. Not a fan of Muir Woods except when the rangers put on their Winter Solstice show…

13. Capitola Beach–a cute little town for a weekend visit, plus the margaritas they serve at many of the watering holes along the beach are just the thing to quench a beach induced thirst.  Just watch for strong surf in the fall, the locals warn me…

If you do visit  Northern California, a visit to the beach must be on your list.  Just plan ahead, bring a jacket in case the fog rolls in, rent a wet suit if you plan on surfing or boogie boarding and of course bring a frisbee or two to feel like a Californian.  And yes, the Great White Sharks, do patrol our waters, but that is another post…

Photo courtesy of angela7dreams on Flickr.