We’ve been everywhere--from San Francisco through most of the North Bay Area.
We've been everywhere--Fremont, Union City, Haywood, San Leandro, Oakland, Richmond,(cross the San Rafael Bridge) San Rafael, Novato, Petaluma, Cotati, Valley Ford, Bodega, Sebastopol, Santa Rosa, Jenner, Fort Ross, Cloverdale, Windsor, Guerneville, Geyserville, Calistoga, St. Helena, Healdsburg, Glen Ellen, Sonoma, Tiburon, Sausalito, Napa, Fairfield--phew, we’ve been everywhere!<
We left Arizona heading to the California Coast for the moist air and cooler weather to determine if a change in the humidity would help the allergy issues. But before reaching our final destination in the North Bay Area we had to drive through Southern California, making a stop in Pasadena. There we picked up Kayla, took her to her ball game and watched her play baseball. Kayla started playing baseball about age seven and is fourteen now, in high school and is almost as tall as Grandma Ashley (which isn’t saying too much). It was a relaxing afternoon at the park--after the game we had a little two-on-two time with Kayla and Casey at dinner!
We arrived in Santa Rosa just in time to get keys, exchange information and say our goodbyes to Eric and Jan as they were leaving to catch a plane to Hawaii and we were left to house sit. It was an effortless job--cut the grass a couple of times, water the garden, feed the hummingbirds and try to keep the raccoons away. The rest of the time we were so busy exploring the area the days just flew by.
We took a day trip from Santa Rosa to Sausalito for lunch and pictures from Golden Gate National Recreational Area and Marin Headlands visitors center by way of Muir Woods and Tiburon. We have never seen the Golden Gate Bridge from this side--the views from this location are beautiful! It was a wonderful warm day and we did a lot of exploring--driving by the Nike Launch Site as we headed back to Sausalito.
Another day we set off for The Jack London State Historic Park but to our surprise it was CLOSED--open on the weekends only. So we made the best of that day’s drive, discovering in Glen Ellen a very interesting place--a personal residence with 100’s of metal gargoyles in the yard, on the fences and on the walls of the house! The sign on the gate reads, “No Trespassing--But Peek Freely”. After peeking in and taken pictures we were off to have lunch at El Molino--so good! We actually had three meals there while we were in Santa Rosa--that is how good it is.
Over the weekend there was a Farm Walk Event in which we wanted to participate. Instead of going back to The Jack London Park that weekend we went to visit the Bee Farm--we really got into this (as you can see from the pictures) and we learned so much. It was like we were getting ready for a Halloween party--great costumes! There is really a lot to learn about the bees--each box is a different hive and they have to watch out for intruders from other hives coming in and stealing.
Of course we couldn’t visit Santa Rosa without seeing Dozer, the friendly giraffe, at Safari West--lunch, pictures and a visit and we were off to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield for a tour!
It sounds silly but it was great. Did you know that there are five steps to making the Jelly Belly--by the second step it is a bean but a little sticky and covered in sugar; by the fourth step it has its colored shell but is dull; the fifth step is the polishing. Once they are polished they are on the conveyer belt being sorted. The perfect ones get stamped with the trademark and are sent on for packaging and boxing for distribution. The oversized, undersized and the ones stuck together do not get the trademark and are sold as irregulars for less in the factory store only. These are the Belly Flops sold in two pound bags for $9.00!!!
We finally got to the Jack London State Historic Park, and boy, was it worth it! During our tour of the Wolf House, the Happy Walls House and the Cottage we talked about El Molino Mexican Street Food and other places to eat with the guide and a young couple from San Jose. At the end of the tour as we were getting in the car the young couple approached us asking about El Molino. They couldn’t find it on their I-Phone and we couldn’t get on our navigation system so we sacrificed ourselves, showed them the way and joined them for lunch!
Another day we took a drive to the ocean destination of Fort Ross Historical Park. Fort Ross was operated from 1812-1841 by the Russian-American Company. A hunting and trading company, it collected furs to send back to Russia, and grew food crops to ship to Russian Alaska for their troops there. The Russians found this a losing proposition and left the area right before the California Gold Rush. The only original structure in the park from the Russian settlement is the Commander’s house.
The day before leaving the North Bay Area we accidentally found Florence Avenue in Sebastopol--I can’t believe that we almost missed it! All the yard art is made from scrap metal--the artist lives on this street and just about every house has one of his pieces.
The last evening we spent at the Charles Schulz’s Snoopy Ice Arena watching Eric play hockey. He scored the first two goals but the team ended up losing the game--darn. Eric started playing hockey when he was six but his career lasted but 4 or 5 years. Still, it must have gotten into his blood because as an adult he has played more years then he did as a kid.
Our drive home was uneventful with a wind blowing us all the way--fourteen hours later we were back in Carefree. We were welcomed home with the end of summer in the desert!
(Copyright 2011)
We did have a wonderful summer visiting family, friends, old stomping grounds and discovering new places. 
