Inspiration Point Picnic Hike

On Thursday, we took a beautiful hike — one we've taken before — and forgot to bring the camera. So you get only my words.

We started at Inspiration Point in Tilden Regional Park, and walked the Nimitz Trail. After two miles, there's a cow grate, and a bit later a dirt trail heads up to the left. Half a mile later is a bench with one of the most amazing views. See for yourself. We had made it that far once before, and unfortunately didn't have more time before the sun started to set to explore further. Some day soon we'll take it as a day hike: maybe I'll pack picnics for both lunch and dinner.

The meal is also one we've had before, and it's one of our favorites. We paired a seeded baguette from Cheeseboard with, this time, a sweet goat cheese that was coated in tarragon (and pimento?). Alternating with the bread and cheese, we had fresh shucked oyster from the Hog Island stand at the Farmers' Market. When I asked for the best for shucking on a picnic, we were given the last seven of one kind of the oysters, and a mix of others. I didn't write down the kinds, but we enjoyed the mix of very butter little ones, a subtly spicy larger oysters.

We paired the meal with an Australian pinot gris, and finished it with a chocolate cake from Cheeseboard, and a basket of wonderfully sweet blackberries from the Market. We hummed Lewis Carrol on the walk back.