This county is just north of San Francisco. It is the most expensive county in the U.S.A. to live in. It is home to George Lucas, creator of Star Wars as well as millions of yuppies. These yuppies spend time drinking coffee and talking about peace and the environment and going on bike rides on the weekend, ride around in slick cars, use cell phones to talk to people across the room, and hate teenagers who ruin the cultured atmosphere of their Java shops. Star Bucks flourishes here.

Marin county is the first county north of the Golden Gate Bridge, it contains three main cities, Corte Madera, San Rafael, and San Anselmo. Although Marin does have one of the most expensive average building costs, there are some affordable places, such as Novato (actually a trailer park area) and San Rafael are both middle class. Not quite cheep, but my dad can afford it.

It should also be noted that Marin County is the birthplace of the Soccer Mom SUV driving crowd that drives little Timmy and Tammy to the skatepark to ride their Razor scooters around, and get in the way of skateboarders. There are No Skateboarding signs everywhere you go, and routinely skaters are harassed by the cops for little more than skating down the street.

Marin has only one major highway (US101), running North/South, for all of these wonderful gas guzzling SUVs and snappy BMW vehicles. Southbound from 6am to 9am, and Northbound from 4pm to 7pm, the entire 5 lane freeway is a veritable parking lot, taking sometimes 1/2 hour to go 5 miles up the road.

Many of the burrito joints in Marin charge over $5 for a simple beans, rice and cheese burrito; if you hunt around, you can still find a good spot for $4, usually the better hole in the wall Mexican joints with killer guac.

It should also be noted that Marin County was a hippie haven back in the day, and towns such as Fairfax, Bolinas and other towns in West Marin are still home to hippies, both of the old school and neo- type. Even many of the yuppies in Marin are ex-hippies and thus heavily influenced by their backround in liberal politics. The inhabitants of Marin are typically very concerned with the environment and, despite what wealth typically indicates, tend to vote for Democrats and third party candidates; only quite rarely for Republicans.

Marin County is also the home to Pt. Reyes National Seashore, jutting out into the Pacific Ocean, separated by the San Andreas Fault.

Also, there is Muir Woods, a famous forest named after John Muir, friend of Theodore Roosevelt.

The Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael was designed in the 60s by Frank Lloyd Wright. Also a jail and a library, this county hall was featured in the movie Gattaca as a launch base.

A few of the high schools in Marin County are Terra Linda, San Rafael, San Marin, Novato, Marin Catholic, Marin Academy, and Tamalpais.