Back to Nature

Camping was on the menu this weekend, at an amazing little place at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge called Kirby Cove. We were lucky that the fog didn't roll in, because the fog horns are so loud they shake the ground. But when the weather's beautiful, it's one of the most amazing hidden spots on the West Coast. The kids have a blast exploring sea caves and digging up slugs and searching for starfish and collecting beach pebbles and making s'mores by the campfire...

Capturing a Thousand Words

By Chloe Guillemot

I often laugh at my mom

For taking so many pictures.

She says I will thank her later.

Once, she took a picture

Of Claire and me

Down at Kirby Cove.

But she did more than take a picture –

She captured a single moment in time;

She captured a thousand words.

Behind our frozen faces

Full of sunshine,

The Golden Gate took up the blue sky.

Further on still,

The tall San Francisco skyscrapers

Sprang up from the ground like flowers.

The blue bay, an upside down sky,

Was still and undisturbed. Quiet.

Free of boats and sailors.

The cables between the two towers

Of the Golden Gate dipped into a smile,

Reflecting Claire’s smile and mine.

The rays of sun brought light

To everything that it touched,

A golden aura filled the air.

I try not to laugh now

When my mom takes a picture

To capture a single moment in time.

Instead, I look for colors and light,

Smiles and sun, life and more life.

I search for a thousands words.

Swing Out Sister

James and the little ones spent another memorable weekend camping at Kirby Cove, enjoying its dramatic straight-on views of downtown San Francisco through the Golden Gate. With some rope and driftwood they found at the beach, they were able to make a swing that kept the kids occupied for hours. The carefree joys of childhood!

Roughing It

After school today, I heard Wynham telling a friend that he was going to sleep under a bridge tonight. While that's not exactly technically true, he's sleeping about as close to under the Golden Gate as you can get with a sleeping bag.

James and a couple of his friends snagged a night at the much-coveted Kirby Cove campground with its million-dollar view. You have to have special passes and secret codes and such stuff just to franchise the locked gate at the top of the hill, and then you drive down a long and treacherous-looking, cliff-clinging gravel road to get to the site.

Normally I'd say "not on a school night!" but how could I deny the kids this adventure? Although now that I hear the rain starting and begin to ponder driving that gravel road at 7am -- but never mind, it's too late to rethink it. That's why they call it roughing it...