Case in point: the fire tower lookout at Mt. Tamalpais. If you haven't made the trip yet, you're not alone — plenty of lifelong Bay Area residents somehow haven't gotten around to it. As one local put it, they were "born and raised in the bay area my whole life" and only just visited the spot for the first time. Better late than never.

The views from the lookout are, to put it plainly, spectacular. On a clear day you can see San Francisco, the East Bay, the Pacific, and the rolling green hills of Marin stretching out in every direction. No reservation system. No $45 "experience fee." No app required. Just show up, climb up, and look around.

It's the kind of thing that reminds you why people moved here in the first place — before the $4,000 studio apartments and the endless ballot propositions asking you to fund programs that never seem to produce results.

There's a broader point here, too. We spend a lot of ink covering the ways the Bay Area's bureaucracy makes life harder and more expensive. And that coverage is warranted. But Mt. Tam's fire tower is a quiet testament to what public land done right looks like: maintained trails, historic infrastructure, and zero need for a government task force to study whether people enjoy looking at beautiful scenery.

So if you're feeling burned out by the cost of living, the politics, or the general absurdity of Bay Area governance, do yourself a favor. Drive up to Mt. Tam. Climb the tower. Take a breath.

Some things around here are still worth it — and they won't cost you a dime.