Carmel & Mission Ranch

Doug and I left the Sulavers early this morning for our trip to Carmel.  We were glad that they were still home so that we could say goodbye before we left.  We decided to drive straight to downtown Carmel to enjoy all the city had to offer before we checked into Mission Ranch.  The weather was beautiful on our drive but once we arrived at the seacoast community, the skies opened up and the rain began to pour.  It didn't hinder anything that we were doing, but it did make the morning a little dreary and cool.  

Our first stop was the Carmel Bakery.  Maggie had suggested it and we loved the two pastries that we picked out for breakfast.  We then did a little bit of shopping where I found the perfect purple sweatshirt and Doug bought a Carmel hat.  The rain stopped soon after we finished shopping, so we decided to drive out to Point Lobos State Reserve to see the sealions.  We had not visited there on our last trip and were blown away by the views of the ocean that we had on the hiking trails.  The sealions were hard to see where they were perched on their rock, but we could hear them loud and clear.

Doug picked out a brewery to try next and while we were there, Mission Ranch called to let us know that our room was ready early.  I was very happy to hear that and we spent the rest of the day on Clint Eastwood's renovated sheep farm.  To say that we loved our day there was an understatement.  Our room was awesome complete with a working fireplace and back porch.  We had the best view of the sheep meadow and could even see the ocean from our windows.  The happy hour in their piano bar was fantastic with even better views all around.  We returned for dinner a few hours later and enjoyed a delicious dinner while watching the sheep being called in for the evening and listening to the "piano man."  All in all, Mission Ranch was wonderful and we ranked it as one of our favorite places to stay ever.  

 

Muir Woods & The Sulavers

Doug and I left this morning for our 10:30 AM reservation at Muir Woods. We had never been and were extremely excited about visiting the national park. We arrived an hour early and were thankful that they let us in right away. The entire two-mile walk was absolutely beautiful. The cold weather and the rain did not deter us from enjoying our hike at all. It was so beautiful to see the redwoods, and it was fun knowing that we were standing on the spot where Vertigo was filmed and one of the first United Nations meetings was held. Besides a lot of pictures, I also made sure to get a national park stamp and sticker from the gift shop for Cameron‘s national park book that we bought in the Everglades two years ago.  On our drive out of the mountains that housed Muir Woods, we found an In and Out Burger for lunch.  Neither Doug nor I had ever been there and were happy to finally find out what all of the buzz was about.  

Since we were so close to San Francisco, Doug and i decided to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge and stop by the Full House house on our way to San Jose. The last time we were in California, the home was under renovation, so it was neat to see it without all the scaffolding up. We made it to Aunt Rosie‘s house by 3 PM. They were ready for us, and we were super excited to visit with them. Uncle Mike wanted us to go with him to a Korean War monument on top of Mount Umunhum. The weather was perfect at the bottom, but once we made it to the top of the almost 3500-foot-high mountain, the weather had changed drastically from sunny and warm to cloudy, rainy, windy and cold. The views that we hoped to see were nonexistent, and even the monument was hard to spot just a few feet from us. We didn’t mind, however, as we had so much fun on our afternoon adventure.

Our last stop of the day was BJ’s Brewhouse. It was one of Mike and Rosie‘s favorite places to go for happy hour. They had great recommendations for beer to try and several food specials on the menu. Both Doug and I enjoyed listening to all that they had been up to in the past six years since we last visited. It is rare that we get to spend time with anyone in the Heinisch family outside of Uncle Dan and Uncle Phil, so it was very special to us. They had lots of great memories to share making for a wonderful day in Silicon Valley.

Petaluma, Jim and Ernie's Tin Bar

Doug and I started our day at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Petaluma for 9 a.m. mass.  The church was beautiful and the service was wonderful, especially the homily.  Afterward, Doug and I walked through downtown Petaluma checking out all of the antique stores.  There were some great pieces, but we only window shopped today.  We had just gotten to the Petaluma Historic Library when Jim called to let us know that he was at our hotel.  I was excited to see him, but a little nervous as well as we hadn't spent time together in person for twenty-five years.

Thankfully, time melted away in all of thirty seconds.  The three of us spent the day laughing, sharing stories, and exploring the area along the way.  We first toured the library where we learned how Petaluma was founded.  We also saw several antiques in the library that Doug and I had owned in our home.  We found the old-fashioned egg washer fascinating, but only Doug checked out the de-beaker.  While we were there, we also discovered that American Graffiti had been filmed in downtown Petaluma as well.  After the library, we walked to the river before heading to Sonoma.

Jim had chosen downtown Sonoma for lunch, but on the way there, Doug noticed that we were passing "Ernie's Tin Bar."  Dan had told him that if we were ever in Sonoma that we should check it out.  Jim was all for it as he had passed it many times and always thought about stopping.  The guys tried a few beers, and we all enjoyed the roadside atmosphere very much.

Downtown Sonoma was very nice.  We parked on the square and walked through the area looking at all of the stores and restaurants before finally settling on a bistro for lunch.  The weather was gorgeous, so we sat outside for our late afternoon meal.  I spotted a chocolate shop close by, and we headed there for a sampling of their truffles. Before we left town, we checked out their center park and stopped to smell a few roses along the way.  

Our last stop of the night was the distillery beside our hotel.  Doug and I had visited it last night and took home a piece of their carrot cake.  I had raved about it to Jim, so he wanted to try it as well.  Doug ordered the same and I chose the spicy chocolate cake which had actually habanero seasoning in the frosting.  It was very good and a great way to celebrate a wonderful day catching up with a dear friend. 

 

Petaluma and Charles Schulz

Since Doug slept the majority of our trip out to California, he had no problem driving an hour north to Petaluma last night.  I had found a hotel close to town that would be a great starting point for our day today.  I also felt more comfortable getting out of Oakland as Jim had told me that there were some parts of the city that weren't safe and I didn't want to navigate that at midnight last night.  The hotel was perfect for a one-night stay and even had breakfast for us in the morning.   After being awake for twenty-four straight hours, I was thankful for a good night's sleep.

Our plans for the day included checking out the Egg and Butter festival in downtown Petaluma.  We drove their first and decided that we would wait and go to it later in the day.  The crowds were already gathering for the parade even though it wasn't scheduled to start for two hours and trying to find a parking spot was almost impossible.  We didn't mind postponing our plans as that gave us plenty of time to go to the Charles Schulz museum in Santa Rosa.  We had wanted to visit it on our last trip to California, but our return flight got cancelled and we had to leave a day early.  I was so glad that we finally got to go today as we both loved it.

The museum was dedicated to Schulz's writing career and most importantly his creation of the Peanuts cartoons.  The exhibits were filled with Peanuts comics, large character displays, murals and the history of his life with Charlie Brown.  It was fascinating to see the evolution of the cartoons and the explosion of their popularity.  After the museum, we walked to the ice rink that Schulz created.  He was a huge fan of the ice skating and hockey.  We were surprised by how popular the rink was in Santa Rosa as we had never thought of California as an ice-skating area.  Schulz had hosted senior ice hockey tournaments, ice pageants and had many Olympic skaters visit over the years.  Attached to it was The Warm Puppy Cafe.  It was adorable and extremely busy with the lunchtime crowd.  Our last stop on the property was the gift shop.  It was not only filled with Peanuts merchandise but had a lot of memorabilia in it as well.  Both Doug and I were thrilled with our visit this morning.  We not only learned a lot but felt as though we were taking a step back into the fun parts of our childhood.

Since we were in Sonoma County, we decided to pick out a winery to visit next.  Paradise Ridge was absolutely beautiful, and we loved sitting out on their veranda looking at the hills around us. Doug is the wine connoisseur in our family, but I did enjoy the one he picked out for me to try.  That along with the cheese plate they served was perfect for lunch.  While we were there, we even saw a few wild turkeys walking through the vineyards.  

Doug and I made it back to Petaluma well after the parade ended.  Our hotel was situated downtown in a prime location.  We could park our car and easily walk to the festival.  We stopped at a few places along our walk, amazed at all of the people in town.  We found a nice place on the river for dinner and enjoyed dessert at the distillery next to our hotel making for a wonderful end to our first day in California.