Baker Beach + The Golden Gate

Hello, hello! Why does the weekend always fly by so fast? Boo.

Although it seemed too short, we had a really great weekend.

On Saturday, we packed Coco up in the backseat and took a trip to the coast.

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We have wanted to go to the beach here on the west coast for quite some time and decided to finally give it a go this past weekend. We chose to go to Baker Beach in San Francisco because it’s dog friendly and also has a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

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After checking the weather forecast (most sunny with a temperature around 70 degrees), I thought it would be perfect for us to have a picnic on the beach while watching the sunset. Turns out, the forecast was a little off…

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Not only was the sun completely covered by clouds and fog, but the temperature was about 55 degrees paired with extremely strong winds.

It was so windy that Coco’s ears kept blowing up in the air.

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Even though our picnic plan was shot, we still had a great time running around with Coco and taking in the views.

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It was pretty entertaining to watch her run around in the sand.

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She’s not a fan of the water (and she calls herself a Labrador…psshhh) but she seemed to enjoy drinking it.

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Brandon managed to coerce her into the water long enough to get hit by a wave before running back to dry land.

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She had so much fun and it was great to see her so happy!

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Her paws have officially touched sand on the east coast and the west coast of the United States.

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We also got a few family photos in front of the Golden Gate.

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Bakers Beach was actually really nice and had beautiful trees along the hills leading inland.

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The beach also has a 200-step stairway called the Sand Ladder Stairway which is made from 10-foot logs and is a part of the Pacific Coast Trail. We didn’t do them, though, because we wanted to take it easy on Coco. Winking smile

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This beach was so much different than the kind Brandon and I grew up on in Florida since it is surrounded by enormous cliffs.

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Some of which have homes perched along the edge.

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Can you imagine this being your view every day?

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I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be on a perfectly clear day.

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After a while, our ears started to hurt from the constant cold wind and Coco’s energy was starting to wear so we decided to pack up and head home.

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True to California form, we sat in traffic in the city forever.

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Once we got home, we unpacked our picnic and enjoyed it on the couch while watching a movie.

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Pretzels, whole wheat bread from Trader Joes, olives, lemon hummus, and ricotta spread. So yummy!

I also had a mini bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay packed for our picnic, isn’t it cute?

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What? Am I the only one who thinks wine is cute?

The documentary we watched was really good and I will be sure to share more about it (this post is getting a little lengthy!). It was entirely about food so I think it may interest some of you.

Overall, it was a great day and we really enjoyed Baker Beach. Hopefully we can make it back one day when the weather is a little better.

Do you live close to a beach?

What are your favorite foods to bring on a picnic?