4 Best Sights in The Bay Area, California

It's a seasonal ritual for California's elephant seals to come ashore here each winter—and a spectacular annual event for human visitors to watch these incredible marine mammals playing, flirting, breeding, and sometimes fighting in the chilly salt water and brisk sunshine. Guided tours (around three miles) are mandatory to keep the elephant seals safe and to protect this fragile ecosystem.

Excellent tide-pooling can be had along the 3-mile shoreline of Duxbury Reef; it's one of the largest shale intertidal reefs in North America. Look for sea stars, barnacles, sea anemones, purple urchins, limpets, sea mussels, and the occasional abalone. But check a tide table ( usharbors.com) or the local papers if you plan to explore the reef—it's accessible only at low tide. The reef is a 30-minute drive from the Bear Valley Visitor Center. Take Highway 1 South from the center, turn right at Olema Bolinas Road (keep an eye peeled; the road is easy to miss), left on Horseshoe Hill Road, right on Mesa Road, left on Overlook Drive, and then right on Elm Road, which dead-ends at the Agate Beach County Park parking lot. Avoid areas rich with fragile Monterey shale, which are prone to erosion from human disturbance. It is illegal to collect anything from this protected marine area.

Like the tide-pool section of an aquarium—except in real life—this protected area is on every must-visit list for school field trips and anyone interested in marine biology. This is one of the premier California coast places to see sea stars, crabs, and the other aquatic creatures who inhabit this unique marine ecosystem. Be careful walking around; tide pools are slippery and full of wildlife. There are trails for enjoying views from above. The reserve's website has a handy self-guided tour brochure.

Known by locals as The Dish, this radio telescope has served many purposes over the years, including some for the government; it's run by a local research institute, not the university itself. The main reason that everyone comes to The Dish is because of its series of hiking and jogging trails that wind their way around the classic Northern California landscape full of oak trees, poppy flowers, and local wildlife, rewarding each workout with stellar views.