Oysters, Cheese & Flowers: A Picture-Perfect Day In West Marin

After a slow and grumpy start to the day yesterday (in which our snappish, sleep-deprived heroine couldn't quite keep it together until coffee was applied and out-of-houseness was achieved), we wound up driving out to Inverness to go fetch oysters at Drake's Estero Oyster Farm (which used to be Johnson's Oyster Farm). We went with the intent of not only bringing them home and barbequing them up for dinner, but of starting a new family tradition. Eli had shown a startling (well, startling to us anyway) enthusiasm for eating oysters at a recent family dinner at a Chinese restaurant, so we thought we'd strike while the iron was hot and see if we could get him used to the barbequed version. Plus both Josh and I love oysters and we've always liked the idea that we could go fetch them and make them ourselves. So we took advantage of the gorgeous weather (and our general lack of desire to stay home and do house chores) and just went.

It was a truly beautiful drive. The constant rain during the months of March and April left behind not a silver lining but a green one--the hills and meadows are incredibly lush with all kinds of grasses, weeds and wildflowers, and the trees are just now bursting out with their new green hairdos. It's my absolute favorite time of year in Marin, even if it did come a month or two later this year. (I will always remember doing a similar outing in similar perfect weather last year, the day before Isaac was born.)

And just like last year, while we were out there, we also stopped off at another West Marin favorite, Cowgirl Creamery in Pt. Reyes, and then at Big Rock, at the top of Lucas Valley, for a wee walk in the wildflowers. Eli had a great time looking for lizards, and didn't want to leave, but we had oysters to 'que, so we wrenched him away and drove back home, where he got to spend some good Daddy-son time helping to scrub oyster shells (he declared that he was going to keep all the shells for his "collection") and assist in the barbequing. And much to our amazement, he gobbled up something like 5 huge oysters in addition to his San Francisco sourdough slathered in butter. Color us shocked but very, very pleased. Josh and I had another 3.5 dozen oysters between us, which I'm both proud and a little disgusted to report that we gobbled down completely. (Mmmm hot off the grill…nothing like it.) It was so delicious and fun that we're going to try it again next weekend for mother's day dinner with my parents. God, I love Marin, especially the hills and coast of West Marin and the bounty of both flora and fauna we are lucky enough to be so close to, and I have to say that days like this one remind me how blessed we are to live here.

One last thing: because I just can't spend a picture-perfect day without wanting to record it in, well, pictures, here's the story of the day again, in photos this time. The full photo story with more, more detailed, and larger photos can be found here on our family photos gallery, for the curious.

^ Eli and Daddy checking out the shell storage area in back of the oyster farm.

^ Buying the oysters at the counter.

^ Stopping to smell (well, pick) the poppies outside the Cowgirl Creamery.

^ At the beginning of the Big Rock hike. (And they don't call it "Big Rock" for nothin'...)

^ Eli helping Daddy scrub down the grubby monster oysters.

^ Daddy does his bbq magic while Eli cheers him on with great enthusiasm.

^ Proof Eli actually did eat the oysters (and enjoyed them, despite the look on his face in this particular picture). Can you believe it???