There's a north bay too?

Despite the fact that I grew up in the bay area, I know next to nothing about the north bay at all. So yesterday was quite the adventure when one of our friends took us around where they live.

For example, when he took us to Tiburon, including the famous Sam's Cafe, I was surprised to learn that there was a tourist destination across the bay. I had no idea that scores of tourists got on the ferry from the city, headed north to Tiburon, and would ride bikes or walk around during the day.

We also checked out Larkspur and Mill Valley. The north bay definitely feels different from most of the bay area I've been to. It seems less populated, surrounded by more nature, and less diverse (I get the feeling that the average income is higher in the north bay than elsewhere, though I can't be sure). There are towns elsewhere in the bay area that are similar (Los Gatos, Los Altos, Saratoga, and Woodside all come to mind), but still, the north bay just feels like an entirely different place.

It also seems like there are a ton of restaurants to try out over there. We stopped in at a few different places, and had a gazpacho shooter at Picco's and dinner at Bungalow 44, but our friend told us about many of the other restaurants which all sounded very good.

I guess I should play "tourist" more often and check out what's outside my backdoor...