Lagunitas, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, CA

Lagunitas is the last settled stretch of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard before the road climbs into Samuel P. Taylor State Park, and it makes up the western half of the Lagunitas-Forest Knolls community in Marin County. One road, Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, carries everything in and out of the village, and the sense of being at the end of something is hard to miss. Forest Knolls is the next village back toward the east, and the redwoods begin soon after the last house heading west. Most of the housing began as summer places. The village grew slowly as a getaway until building picked up after World War II, and that past shows in the scale of things, with smaller cottages and cabin-style houses on wooded ground, many now lived in year-round. Shade from redwood and bay trees covers a lot of the yards. Samuel P. Taylor State Park is about two miles up the road, on land where Samuel Taylor ran a paper mill before opening the land to paying campers in the 1870s. The Barnabe Peak loop is the long outing, six miles and about 1,300 feet of climbing, following an old railroad bed beside Lagunitas Creek before it rises to a summit with views of Point Reyes and Mount Tamalpais. Day use takes a fee. Everything people gather around sits on one short run of the boulevard. The Western Gate opens early, pulls espresso and pour-overs, bakes almond croissants and hangs local art on the walls. Arti Natural Indian Cafe cooks chicken tikka masala and paneer tikka kebab in a clay oven, and the Phoenix Collection Tea Museum pours tastings of rare aged teas in the same stretch. The Lagunitas General Store covers groceries, with a deli counter and fresh breakfast. The general store handles the daily staples. Bigger shopping means the drive over White Hill toward San Rafael, and Marin Transit's Route 68 makes that run from the San Rafael Transit Center out to Inverness, though buses come only every hour or two. With one road and a thin bus schedule, getting anywhere takes planning, and a forgotten errand costs you a trip. Most mornings in Lagunitas start the same way, with a coffee from the Western Gate and the road tipping toward the redwoods.