Sunday was our last day in the great wasteland, so off we went across the western part of Nevada past Reno and on into California.
We stopped for the night at the Coachland RV Park just outside the small touristy town of Truckee, California. Once again, after days of flat, flat, flat, it is so different, and quite nice to be amongst the tall pine trees. After getting set up we headed into Truckee for some lunch. The tourist stretch in this small town is about 3 blocks long with large parking lots on each end. We managed to find a parking spot on the street right about in the middle. It was pay parking but a lot less walking. We walked along the shady side of the street to Moody's Bistro, Bar & Beats where we ordered an appetizer size crispy calamari and a margherita pizza with bacon added to it. The calamari were not as crispy as they could have been and there was a lot so we didn't finish that but the pizza was superb!
When we were finished the waitress brought our bill and after checking it, Brian placed his credit card on it and we waited for the waitress. Some other "guy" came past the table, picked it up and said "we'll take care of that for you" and disappeared through the doors which we presume was the kitchen. A few minutes later he appears through another door and sits at the bar. Several more minutes go by. Brian was just about to get up and ask the guy what kind of voyage his card has gone on when the waitress appears with it. Brian explained to her that, after having his card replaced three times since we left home 5 months ago, he was not particularly happy with someone other than the waitress picking up his credit card and disappearing with it. She thought it was quite funny because "we do that all the time". She just didn't get it and was quite surprised when we explained to her how easy it is to skim a card and make a new one if you have the right equipment. She had not yet heard about the impending "pin cards" coming their way and was clearly lost on how they would work even after we went over it several times. It might be a long learning curve in these parts. After lunch we wandered the street taking in the various tourist shops and boutiques. It was a pretty hot day and the RV park doesn't have a pool and it was too late to head to Lake Tahoe so we headed off to Starbucks for a couple of iced lattes instead. Later we picked up some deli fixings for a light dinner back at the RV park. In the evening when we decided to have dinner outside we were no sooner sat down than the wasps came out... screw that, we moved into the wee trailer.
Monday we continued west on I-80. We thought we would find a Black Bear Diner for some lunch. We had stopped at one of these back in Week 2 and found it to be reasonably good and reasonably priced. It seemed that the billboards we saw for Black Bear Diner were not particularly well placed as twice we were literally past the exit before we noticed the signs. Finally we saw one advertised for downtown Davis California, so headed off on an exit labelled "Davis - Downtown" so it should be easy... and it was, except for one thing... PARKING. This Black Bear Diner is strategically placed to take advantage of being really close to the University Of California at Davis and all the parking anywhere near the place is reserved for those with permits. Narrow streets, lots of traffic, no parking, lots of pedestrians all added up to a decision to just leave the jurisdiction. At one point, there was a delivery truck parked in our lane leaving us no choice but to go around it in the on-coming lane. Brian waited until there was a break in the on-coming traffic then went around it. The truck was parked right near an intersection such that Brian couldn't see the stop sign but was going slow enough to recognize it as we entered the intersection. A woman coming the other way and making a left turn across in front of us thought Brian was violating her universe. She was yelling and waving her hands even though we had stopped and Brian was waving her through. Man, was she on a rant; we thought she was going to blow a gasket. Kris got into the spirit of things by giving her the royal digit :-)
Back on I-80 we thought we'd see if our GPS could find a California Pizza Kitchen anywhere nearby. Turns out it found one so about 45 kms down the interstate we took an exit into Fairfield and followed the GPS instructions to the appropriate address. WELL... we can definitely say that there is not presently, likely never has been and likely never will be a California Pizza Kitchen at 1247 W. Texas St in Fairfield California! So another GPS SNAFU! We were now less than an hour away from Petaluma so we decided to just get there, get checked in at the KOA and do a late lunch in Petaluma.
At the KOA Brian asked the desk clerk what our KOA rewards situation was and the guy said that we had $75 to use if we wished. We wished!... the Petaluma KOA is very nice but is quite pricey so the $75 knocked a chunk off our 4 night stay at $62 (less our 10% discount) per night. We'll take it.
For lunch we decided to do a repeat visit to one of our favourite little cafes... Aqus. Kris ordered a chicken quesadilla and Brian had a AqusClub (like a BLT but add turkey and avocado). Both were excellent as expected. About the only thing we did after that was to go to Pete's for a couple of iced lattes while Kris did a bit of knitting and Brian surfed the internet. For dinner we picked up a couple of pieces of meatloaf and some yellow beet, mango and fennel salad at the Petaluma Market. Man, that salad was tasty.
Tuesday was a veg out around Petaluma day. Not much doing. After coffee we drove around Petaluma a bit as well as making sure we knew where the Sonoma Airport Express bus terminal was (so we'd know where to meet Marian on Friday). We stopped at Trader Joe's and picked up some pre-made salads for lunch back at the KOA. After lunch Brian dropped Kris off downtown while he went off to see what kinds of cool things Friedman's Home Improvement store has going these day. We met back up at the Starbucks for the regular iced lattes. Kris had a good look around the central core while Brian checked out the Big Green Egg bbq's at Friedman's. We hope this is the year we finally get around to buying one of those things. For dinner we picked up a couple of nice steaks, to grill, also from the Petaluma Market. Finally getting a chance to use our griller.
Wednesday we drove into San Francisco. It's about an hours drive each way so no plans to do a whole lot other than hit a few favourite stores before trying to beat the rush hour out of town. First stop was a Nordstrom Rack where Kris picked up a pair of shoes and Brian bought a shirt (yes, checkered, go figure!). For lunch we drove over to the strip mall in Laurel Heights and went into the Rigolo Cafe, a french bistro type of place, where Kris had a Salad Nicoise and Brian had a toasted BLTA (a=avocado). After lunch we checked out a couple of boutique stores and the excellent Books Inc bookstore.
For our last errand, in town, we drove over to Clement Street to Fabrix, one of Kris' favourite fabric stores. Then there was a moment of panic as we stopped and gaped at the closed storefront...
... then Kris, saying "This is not possible!", whipped out her iPhone and looked up Fabrix on the internet, got a phone number, called it and when someone answered Kris pleaded... "please tell me you have moved!" .... and, yes, they have moved since we were here last year. Following instructions, a few blocks down Clement Street we found the new, and improved, Fabrix store...
....WHEW, anxiety attack averted!!!!! That AT&T "go plan" for $60 a month more than paid for itself in those brief moments after seeing the empty store front!
So after all that, Kris was in the store for only a little less than an hour and came out with a small armload of fabric for a few projects when we get home...
By the time this was all said and done we were in the height of rush hour heading north over and past the Golden Gate Bridge...
We stopped in Corte Madera, a few miles north of the bridge, for a couple of iced lattes, some window shopping and a visit to The Container Store to replace one of our waterproof bins that suffered a wounding (i.e. a great big hole in the lid) when a large flashlight flew out of an upper cabinet, in the wee trailer, during a particularly bumpy section of highway last week.
It was early evening by the time we arrived back at the KOA so we decided we should head to McNear's Saloon and Dining House for some dinner and take in a bit of the Giants ball game (they have about a dozen large TV screens so pretty good view regardless of where you sit). A dinner of Ahi Tuna tacos and Sheperd's Pie went well with a couple of glasses of wine and the Giants 4-2 win over the Cubbies.
Thursday was another relaxing day as we await Marian's arrival on Friday. For our morning coffee we decided to check out Acre Coffee, a local place that appeared to be quite popular.... and it was. A very busy place for a Thursday morning but they served up very good lattes so no wonder it was busy. For lunch we went off and bought some watermelon, tomatoes and avocado for a lunch salad. After lunch we headed for the pool at the KOA. Usually the water in their pool is quite warm but on this day it was nice and crisp. Very nice indeed. The only weird thing was when Kris saw a small toddler (very small toddler) sitting by himself in the hot tub. She asked a couple of other couples if that was their child but not so much. Another fellow got out of the pool and went to the far corner of the pool deck to ask a woman if it was her child. "Yes, he is but I know where he is!"... wow... here's someone who simply doesn't understand how fast it can take for a child to slip and fall under and drown.... AND she actually wasn't watching; she was paying way more attention to her cell phone! Pathetic parenting in action!
Friday was moving day as Marian arrived late afternoon and we were all moving into a rented house for the weekend. We had to be out of the KOA by 11:00 AM so we got ready, packed up and departed. Marian was not to arrive until late afternoon and we had some time to kill before we could take over the rental house. So we headed into downtown Petaluma with the wee trailer and found a parking spot on a street not too far from a Starbucks. Morning lattes and some knitting for Kris before we headed over to Aqus for some lunch. By the time we finished lunch it was time to head out to the house where we dropped off the wee trailer and moved most of our stuff into the house. Our rental is a VRBO on the outskirts of Petaluma. This place looks to be quite nice with a nice deck overlooking the countryside...
... After the trailer was unloaded we headed back into Petaluma to have a couple of iced lattes while waiting for Marian to arrive. Her flight arrived in time for her to catch the 3:30 PM Sonoma Airporter Express meaning she should arrive in Petaluma at 5:00 PM....BUT...it is Friday afternoon so the rush hour traffic will be a bit worse than usual. That did prove to be the case as the bus arrived about twenty minutes late. After going back to the house and resting for a bit we headed downtown to McNears for some pub grub dinner and to catch a bit of the Giants/Cards game.
Saturday was just a "get Marian acquainted with Petaluma day". We went own to Acre Coffee to start then Kris and Marian had a good wander around the downtown while Brian went off to Friedman's (again) to see if they carry the type of motion detector lights used along the pathway at our rental house. They do, but are out of stock at this time :-( The other bad news is that the Petaluma Seed Bank is closed on Saturdays. We knew Marian would enjoy that place so we'll have to come back Sunday or Monday. For lunch we took Marian to Aqus then headed back to the house for some rest and relaxation. Sitting out on the deck we tried to get a video of a hummingbird at the feeder...
If the video doesn't work, see if you can see the hummingbird beside the feeder in this still pic...
Later we drove back into town and went to Lala's Creamery, an old fashioned ice cream parlour for some excellent vanilla and chocolate/raspberry ice cream. For dinner we picked up some nice thick pork chops, veggies, salad and cantaloupe at the Petaluma Market then went back to the house to start working on the jig saw puzzle we purchased earlier in the day. It is a Monet of water lilies. We got a good start but it looks to be a toughie and we are not sure if we will get it done by the time we leave here Tuesday morning...
For dinner we fired up the nice gas BBQ supplied with the rental house. Everything worked great and the dinner turned out to be pretty well perfect. Very nice.
Not much on the TV channels we get at the house so we ended up watching a couple of old re-run episodes of Miami Vice, an American crime drama series that ran through the last half of the 80's, to end this week...
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