If you call the San Francisco Bay area your home, but had to leave for college, you know the struggle of missing the paradise you once took for granted. These are just some of the things you desperately crave while you’re away:

1. Hikes

The Bay Area is made up of valleys full of hiking trails with epic scenery and rewarding views when you reach the top of the climb. A reward that you can’t get anywhere else - and you used to have them all at your disposal. Mt. Tam and Muir Woods, I miss you.

2. The Ocean

Whether it’s Sausalito, Crissy Field, Stinson Beach, Capitola, or Bodega Bay, the options for a beach day are endless. The experience you get at each place is uniquely their own. Sure the water is freezing cold most of the time and it’s almost always foggy, but it’s nice to look at regardless, and our beaches are actually clean. And we have seals, everybody loves seals.

3. Food

You haven’t had “hella” good Mexican food in SO long, and you’re probably deprived of In-N-Out too. You’ve had a harsh reality check when it comes to finding places that have good organic food and grass-fed beef at (somewhat) affordable prices. And people look at you sideways when you say you’re craving kale chips. Don’t knock them ‘till you try them!

4. Driving

You never thought you’d say this but you miss drives to the city, or if you’re from the city you miss drives outside the city. Everything is spread out in the Bay and you hated it while you were there but thinking about it now brings you back to blasting music while crossing the Bay Bridge, or the numerous drives on 101 with the windows down while passing cow pastures and vineyards. The smell of cow manure is nostalgic for you.

5. Sol Food

All you want is a fresh-squeezed limeade in a mason jar and sweet plantains, is that so hard to ask for? You can’t wait for that bright green building in downtown San Rafael to burn into your retinas again.

6. The Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands

No matter how many times you’ve seen that view coming out of the “Rainbow Tunnel” (soon to be renamed the Robin Williams tunnel) it always takes your breath away. And you could spend days exploring the headlands; Fort Cronkite is a secret getaway that even some locals are unaware of.

7. Shopping in San Francisco

If you needed to get some major shopping done and the stores in your city didn’t cover it you just planned a day-trip to the city. It was your ultimate excuse.

8. Access to other just as lively cities nearby

When you weren’t in the mood to venture to San Francisco, yet again, there were plenty of other options for where to go: Berkeley, Oakland, Monterey, and Santa Cruz, the list goes on…

9. Vacations in-State

There was no need to leave the state for vacationing: Tahoe, Yosemite, LA, and San Diego, just to name a few. You literally had everything. Sometimes the drives just spanned around 9 hours…

10. Napa and Sonoma

Let's face it, every time you see a wine label you check where it’s from and feel immense pride when the majority of the time you can say, “that’s where I’m from.”

Until next time, 415.