Petaluma, CA & surrounding area 2015

September 5, 2015

Took a hop on, hop off tour of San Francisco.  We arrive in Sausalito, where we can the tour bus and take it into downtown San Fran.  

Our first stop was immediately after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.  Here we got on another bus, which took us into downtown.  This is called the purple line.   We traveled along Lombard, crookedest street America.

Next we got on another bus by Ghirardelli's to tour the downtown portion of the tour, red line.   Traffic is horrible because of the Labor Day Weekend and the fact that there's a Billy Joel concert tonight at AT&T stadium.  The narrator's on tours are funny and have so much to offer about the history of the city.  Great way to learn about this historical city.

We got to Chinatown and got off the bus to have lunch.   Ate at the R&G restaurant, per advice from a local, not our favorite.   Walked back to Union Square to catch the Green line, which would take us to Golden Gate Park and the beaches.   However, traffic is so bad, we decide not to take this route and continue on the red line.  Thank goodness, as it takes us forever to get back to pier 39.   We hoped off the bus about 6 blocks before pier 39, walked down to Boudin's to purchase more sourdough bread and then walk back to Ghirardelli's to catch the purple line. 

Got to the Golden Gate at about 5, waited for our bus to take us back to Sausalito.  It finally came at 5:25, it was the last bus for the day.   Thankfully we did not miss it, otherwise it would have been a taxi ride or a very long walk.

Once we got back to Sausalito, we walked around and visited a few of the shops.  Got back to coach around 9 pm.   Long day but so much fun and we learned so much on the tour.

September 4, 2015

Toured the Jelly Belly factor in Fairfield, CA today.   Who knew they made more than just Jelly Bellies?   The also make Jordan Almonds, various kinds of chocolate, including chocolate covered jelly bellies and many varieties of gummy products.   You learn how they make the Jelly Bellies and watch them through the various steps.   You even get to taste a few of the flavors along the route.

Only bad thing if there is one, no photography is allowed.   Not sure why, but that's the way it is!!

Near by is the Sepay Groves to learn about Olive Oil.  This is a small olive oil company, that specializes in selling high end olive oil.  Yes, there is a major difference in olive oils.  As we learned they sell high polyphenol extra virgin olive oils, these have exceptionally high health benefits.   Per the owner, most grocery stores usually don't carry these type of oils, because they cost so much.  He is right, as we paid $44 for a 1/2 gallon.  

The health benefits include lowering your cholesterol in 2 weeks if you drink 2 tbsp. a day, can lower your blood pressure, can lower your blood sugar in 2 hrs and could boost your immune system.  With my high cholesterol and high blood pressure, decided to give it a try. 

We also bough two bottles of their vinegars, summer strawberry & cinnamon pear.   They say they are both excellent in salad dressings and on fruit, meat, etc.   We tasted manyOn of them, all of which were good with bread and olive oil, but I decided to purchase these two.

On the way home, we stopped Fremont Diner in Sonoma for lunch.   Excellent diner!   Bobby had a brisket sandwich, also had a spicy sausage.   He said it was excellent, I had a salad with apple, walnuts, bacon (different than I've seen before) and blue cheese, like Bobby's it was excellent.

We have not explored much of Petaluma, so decided to head to the outlet mall.   Honestly, it's not worth your trouble.  Much of the mall is empty and what is there, really is not different than we see at most other malls.   Deals were nothing to brag about!

Tomorrow is our last day, think we'll head back to SF.




September 3, 2015

Bodega Head

Arch Rock

What a fun day today was.   Started out around 9 by driving into Petaluma and finally finding the arm wrestling statue!   After talking with a local last night at the Elks club, we found out the arm wrestling championships are no longer held here in Petaluma.

Gary & Carol Neal, whom we met at the Eureka Elks has told us about Bodega Bay, so I decided to go explore it.   It's about 40 miles west of here.  Beautiful beach area, with tons of opportunities to view the ocean.   We stopped at many of the pulls outs to take photos, view the wild life, etc.   Our first stop was Bodega Head, in hopes of spotting a whale, no luck.  

Goat Rock Beach

Church used in the movie the Birds

The tides were almost in, so in many spots we were unable to see/get to the beach.   However, we did do both.   Our last stop before heading back towards Petaluma, was Goat Rock Beach (near the town of Jenner) where you get to see the Russian River enter the sea.   Also here the Harbor Seals were teaching their pups how to swim, hunt and get ready to live on their own.   Many of them had already departed, but there were probably 50 there.  

Next we headed to back to Bodega Bay, stopped at the Tides, this restaurant was used in the film "The Birds" directed by Alfred Hitchcock.   Then we drove to the town of Bodega and saw the church and school house used in the film.  The store in Bodega had many pics of the movie, some of them signed by the actors.   They wanted some big bucks for some of the pics.  The most expensive we saw was one signed by all the actors, they wanted $23,800.

Charles M Schulz museum

Charlie Brown

Then we headed to Santa Rosa to visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum.  What a wonderful time we had, took us back to the comic strip days.   They've done an excellent job and displaying Mr. Schulz work. 

There is also the Ice Area and the main store in two other buildings.   You have the opportunity to watch some of the animated cartoons and watch a short movie on his life.  It's very well done and certainly worth your time to visit. One other thing, Mr. Schulz was an avid hockey player and the pic to the right of Charlie Brown shows it.

We just got home at 4:45, long day but oh so worth it!!!!  

September 2, 2015

Point Reyes went a ground

Decided to drive out to Point Reyes Lighthouse, which is about 40 miles west of here.   Wouldn't you know it, it's closed on Tuesday's and Wednesday's.   After visiting the visitors center, we decided to drive out any way just to see it.   When we got there, the fog was moving in very quickly, in fact, so quickly we only got a few pics before we could barely see 100 yards in front of us.   Apparently (another visitor told us), the lighthouse is 308 steps down the cliff and was not visible today.  Since it's closed, the steps down to it were also closed.   Too bad but we elected to head back to Point Reyes to look around.

On the way to the lighthouse, we saw this old boat that was beached, I loved it.   Great pics to take, so I took some.

Once in Point Reyes, I wanted to visit the Cowgirl Creamery.   Thought we'd tour the creamery, but all you're allowed to do is look thru a window.  However we did get to sample some of their
cheeses...wonderful.   I bought some crème fresh, excited to try it.   For those that don't know, it's similar to sour cream but thinner and creamer.   I'll let you know how we liked it.

Point Reyes Visitors Center

Next stop was the Marin French Cheese Company, once again sampled their cheeses (no tour).   The make brie and other soft cheese.   Once again, very good although Bobby didn't like it.   He's into cheddar.

Got back into Petaluma around 3, decided to go find the arm wrestling statue.    No luck, tomorrow we'll have to go to the visitor center and determine exactly it's location.   Petaluma is the world's headquarters for Wrist Wrestling, back in the mid 70's, Bobby was 4th in the world in this sport.   That's before we met!!!!

Internet here is slow for uploading pics, so will have to add them later.

September 1, 2015

Got up and out the door by 5:45, I drove into the city, traffic was fine.   Should be at that time of the morning!!!   It was still dark out, but the sun was out by time we parked the truck.

Found a lot on Marina & Bay across the street from Pier 33, cost us $15 for 12 hours.   Best deal of the day.   While walking around we say many garages that charge $5 for 30 min. or $65 for a full day.

Went over to Pier 33 to check out the process of getting on the ferry, fairly simple, so we headed to Pier 39 to find a breakfast spot.   Looked around at all the shops but nothing is open until 8:00 or later.   We decided on Boudin's, had their traditional, it includes their famous Sour Dough Bread.  It was soooooo good.

Left pier 39 around 8:15 and headed back to pier 33, waited our turn to board and left for Alcatraz around 9:30.  It's only 1 1/2 away, so didn't take us long to get there.  Along the way, you get great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and of course, San Fran.

Once you disembark, you listen to the ranger (this is ran by the National Park System) and then you're allowed to tour the island on you own.   Once you get to the cell house, they give you headsets, that explains the operations.   Great way to learn about the Wardens, convicts, attempted escapes and the closing of the prison in 1964.   A few of the well know convicts included Robert Stoud (the birdman), Al Capone and of course Frank Morris, the escapee whom Clint Eastwood made a movie about.   An interesting fact about the birdman, he never left the 'D" cells, means he was always causing problems for the guards.

It's too bad, but the buildings are in horrible shape and many no longer are standing.   It would be nice if the National Park system had the money to repair them but understand the cost to do so.   They did tell us that over 1 million people visit this island every year, that's a lot of revenue.   Not sure what they do with it!

August 31, 2015

Took us about 5 hrs to drive here from Eureka.   I drove and the roads thru the Redwoods is narrow and windy.   In fact, it make Bobby very nervous sitting over there, as some of the Redwoods are mighty close to the road.   However, we made it through safe and sound....thank goodness!!!

The Petaluma Elks lodge is located just off 101 in an industrial park.   Very nice place with 18 spots, if you ever come here, you MUST make a reservation prior to arriving.   You make it and pay for it on line, so once you get here you pull in and park.   The park hosts then comes and gives you information on the area.

After we settled in, we headed to the Laundromat.  It's hot out, close to 90 and doing laundry was not fun, this place was NOT air conditioned.

Got home around 4, decided to go into the Elks club and see what was for dinner.  Spaghetti, even though we had it last night, I didn't want to cook, so we had it.   Should have cooked, it was horrible spaghetti.

We did talk to the locals and they suggested we leave the park by 5:45, so that we'll beat the traffic into SF.   Not my idea, but since we have a 9:30 tour, we'll do it.