Monday, May 27, 2013

Petaluma,CA – 2013 May 22-26

Settled in at the Petaluma Elks.

On Friday, we did a day trip to Bodega Bay, on the coast.  Through the city of Petaluma, pop around 51,000, we see lots of craftsman-style homes, beautiful architectural city buildings including an old bank remade into a Seed Bank for heirloom seeds.

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Passed rolling hills, cattle, sheep, through Valley Ford, pop 126, selling freshly picked cherries.  To highway 1 and it’s green cliffs.

Found Fisherman’s Cove restaurant, highly recommended on Yelp.  And rightly so.  Right on Bodega Bay across from a huge marina.  I tried their Red Tail Ale and fresh-caught cod in Portuguese Fish Stew (broth with tons of veggies, fish, sausage and shrimp), and two fish tacos with spicy cream sauce, pico de gallo and, again, the fresh-caught cod.  Jerry had Dog Head Ale and a fresh-caught salmon sandwich.  All was very tasty.  The breeze was really cool even though the sun was bright so we chose to eat inside in the fresh-white walled area surrounded by fishing supplies to purchase. 

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Drove around the bay as far as we could.  Several RV parks available.  Probably cool in the summer with the brisk breeze, but really chilly today.

 

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Certainly can see the wind-swept beach and ocean in this photo.

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We come upon the Russian River.

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Salmon Creek Dunes, one of 14 Sonoma County Parks along the coast.  All have no camping signs.

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We poked among the rocks but couldn’t stay long because the tide was coming in.  Found a few oyster shells.  Was hoping to find something interesting in the tide pools, but the timing was off about 12 hrs…lol.

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Beautiful plants helping to hold the dunes in place.

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Ocean on one side of Hwy 1 and peaceful farm scenes on the other.

The  scene of Arched Rock from the beach of the same name.

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Goat Rock.  Wind around the green bluffs 286’ down to the ocean and park in the parking area.  Chilly, very strong wind. 

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The strong winds sure stirred up the ocean with huge waves.

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After leaving Hwy 1 after traveling up as far a the Russian River entrance into the ocean,  we take designated Scenic Route 116 Southeast.  Duncans Mills, wild flowers galore, huge pines.  Forestville, “where the redwoods meet the river.”  Wineries, grapevines.  Sebastopol – stopped so Jerry could take a power nap while I did a bit of grocery shopping at Safeway.  A beautiful day.

Saturday, we took the BMW downtown (probably 4-5 miles away) to the Farmer’s Market…surprisingly small for such an agricultural area and cosmopolitan town.  Probably 10 veg and fruit vendors and 8 jewelry and other craftsmen.  Bought strawberries and spring salad mix.  So fresh!  Then went to the Premium Outlet Mall and found another pair of tennies shoes and a pair of sandals for me…Love the prices!

Sunday, Jerry did some repair work around the rig and changed the fuel pump in the generator.  Yippee – the sweet sound of it running!  Need to box up the one we had and send it back to Simonson Gen. Rep. in Tucson.  They were sure nice to send us a replacement free with free return of the one we bought in April and used only 1 hr. 

This is a nice, quiet area of town and our little RV park has beautiful green grass, trees, birds and their songs to sit out and enjoy.  Reading a couple of books while here.  Very peaceful, cool and sunny.

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