Annie Rand of "Stinson Beach Books"

I finally got a chance to meet Annie Rand, proprietor of "Stinson Beach Books." The photo shows her humble beginnings thirty years ago, in the heart of this magical town at 3455 Shoreline Highway (Hwy 1). Open daily from 10:30am - 5pm, Annie sells everything from Sanskrit to special soaps.

I bought Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter by Lloyd Kahn, a local author and independent book publisher who has lived in Bolinas for many years. He co-wrote the classic hippie picture book, Shelter, in 1973.

I also purchased a Point Reyes National Seashore trail map from Tom Harrison Maps, a local map maker out of San Rafael, Marin County's oldest city. Besides wanting to support local businesses, the map has clear bike trails that I want to try.

To round things out, I purchased a comprehensive guide to hiking called, simply enough, Hiking Marin, by Don & Kay Martin of Martin Press (based in San Anselmo).

On the Way to Stinson Beach

Yesterday we stopped at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on the way to Stinson.



There was a special exhibit on orchids:



I got to take some interesting special effects photos by using the "illustration" setting on my new Casio EX-Z750:



Here's a contrast between the two shots (click to see the larger version):

A French Director in Stinson & Prince Charles in Bolinas!

I'm not a celebrity-monger in any way, shape or form, but I'm half-way through the book Life of Pi (it is quite good) when I happened to read that the French Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who has directly several excellent (and visionary) films, including The City of Lost Children (1995), Amelie (2001), and A Very Long Engagement (2004) -- is spending a month in Stinson Beach, preparing to make a film from the book. Mr Jeunet finds that Stinson is "the perfect place to work."

As if that wasn't enough, good 'ol Prince Charles (and Camilla) chose to "hang out, dude," in Bolinas -- the town that time forgot just north of Stinson.

Go figure...