Weekend Escape: Inverness : At the Ark Bed and Breakfast, Grooving on Nature and the Beat of an Earlier Era

You might think you’ve had it up to here with the commemoration of the Woodstock era, but there’s a cozy, offbeat (and fully plumbed) bed and breakfast in Marin County--perfect for two or four, not 200,000--that stands as a self-sufficient monument to the best of the hippie era.

Known as the Ark, it was built in 1971 in woodsy Inverness by a class of UC Berkeley architecture students under the tutelage of architect, professor and, later, maverick California State Architect Sim Van der Ryn. The Ark (nicknamed by the students for the main architecture school building on the Berkeley campus) and its surroundings embody the back-to-the-land ethos of the early ‘70s at its most guileless.

Van der Ryn began the project after purchasing a plot of prime forest land up several switchbacks from the hamlet of Inverness, 60 miles north of San Francisco, near the Point Reyes National Seashore. His class, “Making a Place in the Country,� set out to do just that, using reclaimed materials such as wood from old chicken coops and glass salvaged from the town dump. The project, chronicled by a scrapbook that remains in the cottage, was clearly a labor of love for the students, who added their own embellishments such as vast skylights and mosaic windows as they went along.

After a long, hot summer in Los Angeles, my boyfriend and I were ready for just such a place in the country, and boarded a flight from LAX to San Francisco one recent Friday afternoon. We picked up our Budget compact and settled into a comfy drive north 53 miles through the center of San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and then northwest into Marin County on tiny winding roads. The weather here can be blustery, even in summer, but this day was clear, sunny and just cool enough to feel like we really had escaped Los Angeles.

Once in Inverness, we turned up Inverness Way and climbed steadily up the hill as the road narrowed and threatened to become overrun with ferns and overhanging cedar branches. As the forest became thicker, the road became narrower until, finally, it petered out completely near the top of the hill; to our right, just as the directions had said, there was a tiny carved wood sign saying simply “Ark,� before a parking spot covered with pine needles.

Just beyond the sign, through a thicket of vegetation, lay the cottage, an invitingly warm dwelling that has apparently changed little since the day it was completed. (It is left unlocked on the day a new guest is checking in, though there is a key to use when you leave for an outing.) The utter stillness of the setting--adjacent to a Nature Conservancy wildlife preserve--is interrupted only by birds and the occasional rustling of the trees. The decor is mostly differing shades and finishes of wood, punctuated by an occasional period piece such as a squat wood-burning stove (the woodpile outside is generously supplied; and, since the cottage is available year-round, there are also baseboard heaters) and lovely fabric screens and weavings created by Van der Ryn’s wife, artist Myung Jin.

There is also a stereo system, complete with turntable and vintage vinyl LPs; a stack of them, including Joni Mitchell’s “Court and Spark� and Neil Young’s “Harvest,� create the ideal weekend soundtrack. We listened to them over and over, with a little Cris Williamson thrown in--though the radio is equipped with a strong antenna to pick up Bay Area stations.

The kitchen is tiny but serviceable (on a previous visit here the year before, I’d made a complete roast-chicken dinner, though this time, the most ambitious dish we whipped up was a fresh-fruit salad), and is stocked with some staples and all the cooking utensils one could need. The “breakfast� portion of bed and breakfast is supplied each afternoon when innkeeper Suzanne Storch, who lives nearby, pays a visit to fill the larder with organic oranges for juice (an electric juicer is one of the few nods to the ‘90s), organic coffee beans, baked goods, granola, milk, fresh fruit and brown eggs. The original outhouse is long gone, replaced by a fully functional bathroom.

We spent the better part of our arrival Friday afternoon exploring the cottage and the grounds, after a quick read through the students’ scrapbook for an overview. There are remnants of several original outbuildings, including a sauna, which is no longer operative, and which the forest moss and furry creatures are slowly reclaiming--but it was fun to climb around it and go inside. A separate shower building, constructed with a full-length window next to the shower head so that bathers could have an unobstructed view of the forest (the building now houses a rather unprosaic washer and dryer), sits between the sauna and the Ark, and an abandoned brick oven, the first meal from which is mouthwateringly chronicled in the students’ scrapbook.

The Ark comfortably can sleep six, with a deluxe queen-size bed in the main room, trundle beds in a small adjacent room and futons in the sky-lit loft. But its biggest appeal is as a romantic getaway for two, judging from guest-book comments.

Such bliss doesn’t come at 1971 prices; a Friday and Saturday night weekend stay costs $297 for two (including tax), plus $15 for each additional person per night. But considering the prices at comparable bed and breakfast inns or hotels in similar lovely settings, it seems quite reasonable.

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On Saturday, we headed out to Point Reyes National Seashore, just a few miles away, one of the most wind-swept sites in North America; even when temperatures are sunny and warm in Inverness or San Francisco, it’s not unusual for fog, wind and clouds to sock in the area. This day, it was mildly overcast with just a brisk breeze. It is bleak and beautiful, and with a couple of well-timed breath stops disguised as view appreciation, we schlepped down, and back up the 300 stairs from the top of the point to the grand old lighthouse, which operated from 1870 to 1977. From the point, we could see families of sea lions and common murres. The Seashore acreage also includes miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking. Bikes can be rented at Trail Head Rentals in Olema, just about a mile from the Bear Valley visitor’s center in the seashore park.

Small cozy cafes that capitalize on local treats such as fresh fish and oysters can be found in Inverness and the nearby small towns of Point Reyes Station and Olema. We dropped in at the Roadhouse Oyster Bar and the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes Station for seafood and pasta; the more adventurous can try chicken paprikash at Vladimir’s in Inverness, an apparently authentic Czechoslovakian restaurant.

But for a truly special weekend, your best bet would be to eat cheaply for most meals, or cook for yourselves at the Ark, and then splurge for one meal at Manka’s in Inverness, one of Northern California’s most innovative and widely praised restaurants.

Manka’s, begun as a hunting lodge in 1917, features a revolving menu that focuses on local ingredients, especially game. On a recent Saturday night dinner we dined on a flawless meal, from appetizers of simple, earthy greens and a summer corn-squash soup, to sumptuous main courses of roast duck in nectarine sauce and pan-seared venison with summer chanterelles. The total tab for two, with dessert and bottled water but no wine (and if you’re a wine drinker, you will definitely want to sample the impressive wine list) was $75.

By Sunday morning, thoroughly mellow and contentedly full of granola and organic coffee, we headed back south, listening to an oldies station all the way.

Budget for Two

Air fare, LAX to San Francisco: $202.00

Budget car rental: 63.20

The Ark, two weekend nights: 297.00

Dinner, Manka’s lodge: 90.08

Dinner, Point Reyes Roadhouse: 28.00

Lunch, Station House Cafe: 17.50

Mountain bike rental: $28.00

Tolls, parking: 14.00

FINAL TAB: $739.78

The Ark; tel. (415) 455-8424 or (415) 663-9338.