Comments (1) Best Coastal Getaway - 2007

Half Moon Bay

Midway through William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life, the play's protagonists escape the Sturm und Drang of angst-choked San Francisco by heading down the coast to Half Moon Bay. Excellent suggestion. After a tranquil 45-minute drive along the ocean, drop your bags at the Old Thyme Inn (779 Main St., 800-720-4277, www.oldthymeinn.com), a marvelous old bed-and-breakfast with fireplaces, four-poster beds, elaborate breakfasts, and an herb garden, then check out the pumpkin festival (if it's autumn), the passing whales (if it's winter), or the gorgeous crescent of reef-protected beachfront (anytime). Ten miles south is the town of San Gregorio, site of the San Gregorio General Store (Highway 84 and Stage Road, 650-726-0565, www.sangregoriostore.com), an incomparably retro resource for everything from seeds, buttons, and cookware to raccoon traps, in-season produce, 18 kinds of tequila, and live music Saturday and Sunday nights. At mealtime, make your way to Duarte's (202 Stage Rd., Pescadero, 650-879-0464, www.
duartestavern.com), the eatery of our dreams, where abalone, artichokes, Dungeness crab, and other local luminaries star on the menu and the ollalieberry pie is out of this world. There's still time to contemplate the redwoods at Big Basin, the elephant seals at A–o Nuevo, and the Mavericks with their surfer-dude supplicants along the coast before returning to Half Moon Bay — in time for the Sunday-evening jazz concert at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (on Miramar Beach, 650-726-4143, www.bachddsoc.org). Monday's a long way away.