A charmed Marin County lifestyle of grilled salmon, spiritual succor and the occasional herb-induced trance state may sound totally 21st century, but for thousands of years that's precisely how our regional forebears, the Coast Miwok, passed the livelong day. From the Golden Gate to Bodega Bay and the Sonoma Valley, these famously robust and genial Native Americans lived a life as idyllic and untroubled as anything this side of the Corinthian Yacht Club. Oysters on the half shell and miner's lettuce vinaigrette were on the seasonal menu, music, dancing and a nice relaxing sauna were popular pastimes and war and bloodshed were arcane concepts...until those overdressed syphilitics with the guns and bullets showed up, that is.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, April 17, 2009, 12:00 AM