June 18, 2008

US & CANADA | US | CALIFORNIA | SAN FRANCISCO

California Dreaming

By Mark Jolly

Gourmet golf or a morning swim to Alcatraz? No bridge is too far at America’s ultimate eco retreat.

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Hold the granola, Boulder. Stand aside, Seattle. San Francisco wants to reclaim its crown as America’s greenest travel destination. This week, the Bay Area opens its first national park lodge, on the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge, near Sausalito. Set in a former army post in the historic Fort Baker district, Cavallo Point – the Lodge at the Golden Gate is billed a “sustainable base camp where the city’s urban edge meets untamed coastal wildlands,” and is founded upon a raft of rock-solid initiatives (including a new action-based institute aligned with the National Park Service).

The location of the lodge alone is spectacular: the Golden Gate National Parks form one of America’s largest open spaces in an urban area, and feature San Francisco’s most treasured escapes (such as Muir Woods, Stinson Beach and the Marin Headlands). But come August, Cavallo Point is also introducing signature multi-day programs that reach beyond surface engagement with a destination. These are immersion courses, from gourmet golf getaways and “advanced yoga for perfect beginners” to discovery tours (learn how to sail to Angel Island) and triathlon training (coach Pedro Ordenes, who holds the record for the most Alcatraz swims, will guide participants through an actual swim crossing from Alcatraz to San Francisco).

Back at base, you won’t want for comforts, old-world or modern (including 36-inch flat screen TVs and organic bedding and linens). Sixty-eight rooms in the restored landmark buildings (which served as officers’ quarters from 1901), boast original tin ceilings, fireplaces and hand-carved porches plus panoramic views of the San Francisco skyline. There are also 74 contemporary rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows yielding vistas of the Golden Gate Bridge.

An onsite “healing arts spa” doesn’t short-change on the spectacular either. With huge windows overlooking the bay, it’s nestled in a grove of cypress trees by a heated outdoor pool, and sources from its own medicinal garden for its signature treatments. If that’s not enough to reconnect you with mother earth, you’ll have to wait until September — when the California Academy of Sciences reopens in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park: the new half-billion-dollar shrine to natural history aims to be the largest green museum in the world.