Bolinas, Bolinas, CA

Bolinas is a small village on Bolinas Lagoon in west Marin County, about 23 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge and a world away from it. Wharf Road, where the museum sits, is the center of things, and nearly everything people do here happens within a few blocks of it. The core is low wooden storefronts, a few old hotels and cottages on small lots with deep gardens, and the village has never tried to look newer than it is. The highway turnoff is famously unsigned, which says plenty about how the place wants to be found. The beach is steps away with steady surf and lessons on offer. Mesa Park holds a skatepark, and the lagoon next door is where harbor seals haul out and egrets stand in the shallows. Longer hikes begin at the Palomarin trailhead a few miles up the coast. For a drink, Smiley's Schooner Saloon has been pouring since 1851 and still books live music. Coast Cafe puts out pastries early and serves chili and seafood later, while BoVida does acai bowls and smoothies. Bolinas People's Store is the village grocery. The Bolinas Museum, at 48 Wharf Road, is free to enter and opens Friday afternoon and through the weekend, with the library close by. Gospel Flat Farm keeps an honor-box stand stocked with produce and eggs. Daily life is more on foot here than in most coastal towns. Coffee, the library, the beach and a drink all fit in one loop, and the car comes out for bigger errands, which run along Highway 1 toward Point Reyes Station or Mill Valley. Street parking fills on summer weekends, and the narrow roads were never meant for the crowds that come to the water. Off season Bolinas slows back down, and by dusk the loudest thing is the surf.