How to Be a Tourist with Your Dog: The Bay Area, Northern California

Though we completely love Chicago and think it's an amazing city, we secretly dream of living in the Bay Area with its beaches, hiking, and beautiful scenery (we even eloped in San Francisco!). Here is Sophie confirming everything amazing about Northern California and how to enjoy it with your favorite pooch!

The Bay Area is an incredibly dog friendly area of Northern California. Sophie wanted to share some of her favorite places to visit!

Visit Fort Funston

The dog beach to visit when in San Francisco! Fort Funston offers trails to hike and a beach to run on. It is off leash doggy paradise. On weekends the places is full of owners and happy dog fetching and enjoying the water. The dog community is currently organized to protest the proposed new laws which all but ban dogs from Fort Funston and other similar parks/beaches in Northern California. In the meantime, we continue to enjoy and love Fort Funston.

Short Road Trip to Half Moon Bay:

After Fort Funston take a drive up CA 1. It is a scenic highway overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Drive to Half Moon Bay, an incredibly dog friendly town 30mins from San Francisco. There stop at one of the many pet friendly restaurants. Our favorites include Sam's Chowder House and the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. The pups always get belly rubs and bowls of water from the friendly waiters.

While you are there, the pups can take a quick deep at Pillar Beach another dog friendly beach with very calm waters (great for a good game of fetch while you wait for a table).

Attend a Rescue Walk Fundraiser or Pet Friendly Day in the Bay

Numerous rescues host walks throughout the year. In addition many of the Bay cities host big events for dog owners in the Park including Bark in the Park in the South Bay, San Jose CA. A well attended yearly event with dozens of vendors, rescue groups and numerous demonstrations including flyball, agility and herding. 

Go on a Hike with your pup!

 Enjoy one of the numerous dog friendly hiking trails (most do require leashes). Sophie’s current favorite is the Pulgas Ridge Trail in San Mateo County. It even has an off leash area at the top of the hike!

 Another favorite hike is the Windy Hill Preserve in Portola Valley. Sophie thinks a nice 3 mile loop around this Preserve is the perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon. For information on great hikes in the Bay Area, we rely on: http://www.bahiker.com/doghikes.html

You can read more about Sophie and her fantastic, active life here. And as one reader pointed out, it's always a good idea for pit bull owners to research beforehand as some areas might not allow pitties.
We have reached the deadline to submit posts for the contest, and our last post will run Oct 14. Sirius Republic is donating 2 collars and we will have a random drawing of all the submitted 'How to Be a Tourist with Your Dog' posts to have 2 collar winners. Winners can chose from a standard collar, or an 'Adopt Me' collar to promote your foster or adoptable dog as modeled by foster dog Levi. 

 And we will still be donating money to the rescue of choice for the 2 posts with the most comments. We will announce the winners Oct 21.

In case you missed them, you can also read our other Tourist with Your Dog posts showcasing Milwaukee,  Upstate New York, New York City, Austin, Florida, Portland, Richmond, Seattle,  Kansas City, Nashville, Alaska, and Chicago. And you can read about roadtripping the 7 Wonders of Illinois with 4 large dogs, boating to the Bahamas with a pit bull, specific tips for roadtripping with a large dog (NYC to rural Tennessee), Chicago Dogs Sidetrip to Harbor County, and Destination "Dog Mountain" in Vermont.