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Visiting us here in Marin County
You are most welcome in the magical land of Tamalpais! The Tamalpais Shambhala Meditation Group is located in Marin County, northern California, immediately north of the Golden Gate Bridge leading to San Francisco and surrounded by water on three sides. Marin is a beautiful place, three-quarters open space protected from development by Federal and state parkland and by private ownership dedicated to preserving the area's agricultural way of life. The weather in Marin, like much of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, is temperate with a distinct maritime quality. Even with global climate change, Marin County continues top be favorably compared to the Mediterranean, although in recent decades the summers have witnessed rising temperatures and winters sharper cold spells. Main’s landscape is diverse, featuring deep redwood forests, rolling coastal hills dotted with oak and expansive grazing pastures, many creeks that feed into either the Pacific Ocean or the bay, miles of tidal marshland that attract migrating birds, and of course the cast Pacific Ocean stretching far out to the western horizon. One can enjoy boating, beaches, woods, mountain- and hilltop views, and all manner of outdoor recreation. The people of Marin are known for their progressive, educated and sophisticated liberality, with an appreciation for the land, its produce and a convivial way of life. Although not as culturally diverse as its neighbors San Francisco and the East Bay centers of Berkeley and Oakland, Marin does honor the variety of people and ways of life that make California so popular. It’s no wonder that many people from other nations make their home in Marin County. Shambhala has a long history in Marin, as does Buddhism altogether. We invite you to come explore this blessed and peacefully prosperous place – and be sure to let us know you are coming, so that we may welcome you to our Shambhala Meditation Center! If we can do anything to assist in your visit, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
What Marin County is Known For
A meandering mountain road weaves up through redwoods and oak chaparral to the peak of this great mountain where sakyongs have walked and prophesied. Circumambulate the summit or wander off onto any number of trails that trace the steps of the original people. The mountain holds in its embrace hundred-year old Muir Woods – dedicated by Theodore Roosevelt and Scots immigrant conservationist John Muir – and overlooks ocean and bay. Marin is also home to two other major Buddhist communities, with both of whom our Group has friendly relations. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, founded by vipassana teacher Jack Kornfeld and friends, is located in semi-rural Woodacre, about twenty minutes west of San Rafael. Spirit Rock has twice hosted Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and Pema Chödrön for a weekend program, and offers a year-round schedule of vipassana retreats. (Shambhala’s own Marcella Friel is head of the kitchen and so, yes, the food is outstanding!) Green Dragon Temple, better known as Green Gulch Farm, is part of the San Francisco Zen Center founded by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Located in a fertile valley leading to Muir Beach, Green Gulch features a cultivated produce and flower garden and offers comfortable retreat facilities with excellent meals.
Places to Visit/Attractions
In October, after summer’s fog has cleared off and days are warm and bright, the California Film Institute showcases international features, documentaries, shorts and children’s films in Mill Valley and at San Rafael’s own Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center. Known locally as The Rafael, this Art Deco film palace was restored by private donors, including local boy George Lucas, whose Skywalker Ranch is located a few miles north. (The ranch comprises 4,700 acres of which only a few hundred acres have been developed. Much of the work on Lucas’ blockbuster hits - Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Kagemusha – were done on the ranch.) Another October attraction is the annual Bioneers Conference, held alongside the lagoon of the Marin Civic Center. The Bioneers are dedicated to creating the shift within human consciousness and technology necessary to survive the coming decades of environmental challenge. (Sound familiar?) It’s a heady mix of cutting edge marine biology, community activism, native peoples’ wisdom (including the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers), film, music and youth networking. The space age-looking Marin Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1950s, hosts county government, twice-weekly farmers markets, cultural events, an annual county fair and the Bioneers Conference. Tours are available of the main buildings, interesting for their use of greenery and natural light. Suburban development in Marin only began in earnest in the 1970s and has been limited to the eastern quarter of the county, along San Francisco Bay. The remaining 75% of the county, extending west over low coastal hills to the ocean, remains free of suburban sprawl, protected or under private ownership. Winding country roads connect small agricultural towns amid a landscape that is green and verdant year-round.
The first land trust in the United States to focus on farmland preservation, MALT acquires voluntary conservation easements on local farmland and encourages public policies that support and enhance agriculture. It has so far permanently protected over 40,000 acres of land, including 61 family farms and ranches. Free ranch tours are offered. The Oceanic Society offers boat trips, staffed with friendly marine biologists, out as far as the Farallon Islands, in the middle of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, over 1,200 square miles of open ocean and coastal waters as well as bays and estuaries. Go see gray whales December through May, and humpback and blue whales May through November. One tip: take a picnic and sit in the front of the boat. Sure, it’s windy and sunny but you won’t turn blue or green like the folks sitting in the tail of the boat! Places to Hang Out Surrounded by water on three sides and mostly open space, Marin County is a nature lover’s paradise. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Point Reyes National Seashore and numerous state and county parks offer all sorts of hiking, biking and horseback recreation. Walk Tennessee Valley from Mill Valley out to the ocean and see owls and deer, maybe even coyote and bobcat. From the Marin Headlands, look down on the Golden Gate Bridge and the city, and look up for raptor migration year-round. Stroll the beach at Points Reyes up to the old lighthouse, or catch a glimpse of the tule elk at dawn. Walk the gentle summit of Tiburon, gazing across the bay to San Francisco. Rent a sailboat in Sausalito and ride the wind on the bay. Take the Tiburon ferry to Angel Island, the West Coast’s principal immigration entry in the 1800s and now a state park, where Asian immigrants arrived on Gold Mountain – the Chinese name for California after the gold rush of the mid-1800s; linger at the poetry scratched into the government building walls by lonesome, homesick immigrants. Until the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1936, water was the only route to Marin County. Dozens of ferry companies did brisk business all over the bay, linking to passenger trains in Sausalito that took visitors all the way to the top of Mount Tamalpais. These days, water travel – the only reliable route following the 1989 earthquake – is limited to Angel Island (see Places to Visit) and the Larkspur and Sausalito ferries to San Francisco. On Friday afternoons, the returning commuter boats become a floating happy hour, and on Saturdays gourmands and tourists ride over to San Francisco’s Ferry Building to enjoy an open-air greenmarket and indoor dining and food shops. 1000 Bridgeway Street Sausalito (415) 332-7660 www.caffetrieste.com A short walk from the Sausalito ferry terminal, through the adjacent pocket park guarded by a pair of ornate Victorian elephant statues, is this local outlet of North Beach’s finest caffé. Great coffee drinks, light food and local neighborhood fauna. 1122 Fourth Street San Rafael (415) 459-4340 Only five minutes from the Center and next door to The Rafael. (See Mill Valley Film Festival, below.)
Places to Eat A food lover’s paradise, Marin County boasts not only many fine restaurants, fresh organic produce, and a profusion of local gourmet items, but an educated and sophisticated palate. Marinites take pride, for example, in their native Cowgirl Creamery cheeses, Hog Island Oysters shellfish, organic Straus Dairy products and McEvoy Ranch olive oil. They support sustainable agriculture and voted several a few years ago to ban genetically modified agriculture from the county. Marin Organic, an association of area producers committed to sustainable farming and ranching, promotes environmental issues such as Salmon Safe certification, a popular farmer education workshop series, and an Organic School Lunch Program that addresses underserved communities. 350 Harbor Drive Sausalito (415) 331-3474 ww.331fish.com Sit on Sausalito houseboat waterfront with your fresh, sustainably caught seafood and watch the sailboats return to harbor
234 Magnolia Avenue Larkspur (415) 924-7766 http://www.larkcreek.com/larkcreek_inn/ Restaurant wizard Bradley Ogden’s first venture, and still great after all these years
Places to Stay
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