Sunday was the reason we are all here.... to go to the J.M.W. Turner painting exhibit at the De Young museum. Marian had pre-purchased the tickets for us with our scheduled entrance time being 9:30 AM, the first group of the day (this is always the best strategy because later in the day the crowds get a lot larger). We were up early to allow for any traffic issues in the way into the city. We allowed two hours for the normal one hour drive. First thing though was a stop at Starbucks for some lattes for the drive into San Francisco. The drive was entirely uneventful and we arrived at the De Young about 45 minutes early so we sat outside on the concourse and watched a group of people doing their daily tai chi exercise routines
The Turner exhibit was simply fabulous...
... we mostly took pics of some of his watercolours with a couple of oils. More pics from the exhibit for this week on our Picasa album.
Note: When looking at the Picasa album you will notice that we forgot to put the "Start Week 23" placeholder in the album so it is 21 pics out of place (i.e. go back that many to start the week). We didn't discover this error of omission until pics were uploaded to Picasa and linked to this blog posting. We could probably go back and delete the links, delete the pics, put the placeholder in the right place, re-upload the pics, and re-link them but that seems like more work that we want to do at this time.
We spent about two hours in the exhibit then about half hour in the gift stores (one for the exhibit and the general museum store). Since it was now after noon we decided to drive out to the Cliff House for some breakfast/lunch. A bit of a wait but the Seafood omelettes, not to mention the views on this beautiful day were well worth the wait. After lunch we drove along the Outer Sunset beach (tons of people out enjoying this beautiful summer day at the seaside) for a bit before heading to the Legion of Honour for another painting exhibit, this one primarily English water colour artists of the same era as JMW Turner. Much smaller exhibit but pretty cool nonetheless.
On the way out of San Francisco we stopped at the weirdest Starbucks for some iced lattes for the road. This Starbucks, on Geary Street, is actually inside a Wells Fargo Bank and the bank is totally closed on Sunday but Starbucks is open. So they have a couple of roped off areas that they ask the Starbucks customers not to cross. Bizarre but it seems to work!
When we got back to Petaluma we went into the Petaluma Rare Seeds Bank. It was closed yesterday and Marian wanted to see it before she left (and we wanted to see it again as well). This place is truly a gardner's dream. They have so many different types of heirloom seeds that it makes the head spin. Not to mention the oodles of different cool gardening magazines, books, implements of destruction, etc, etc, etc. A must see place for any home gardener visiting Petaluma. We picked up a bunch of seed packs to try at home. On the way back to the house we picked up some steaks and veggies at the Petaluma Market. It was a pretty windy evening but the bbq worked just fine. Nice dinner!
Oh, while driving between the house and downtown Petaluma, we pass by numerous acreages with old chicken coops that tell the story of Petaluma's bygone days as the "Chicken Capital of the World", a reputation you don't see or hear much about these days (it appears that Gainesville, Georgia has inherited that moniker)...
Monday morning after stopping for the obligatory Starbucks lattes, for the road, we drove north about 40 minutes or so to have an early lunch at the Francis Ford Coppola winery a little north of Healdsburg. The grapes are looking great...
... the view, across the vineyards, from the restaurant patio was terrific...
... and the food was excellent (Meatballs with Rigatoni, Sausage and Mushroom Pizza, Cheeseburger, and what could possibly be the best Panna Cotta ever for desert)...
After lunch we drove back to Healdsburg. Funny how we have come to rely on the GPS. We have driven this section of highway 101 so many times so no need for the GPS right! Well, we missed the two Healdsburg exits... DUH... so used the GPS to get back to Healdsburg. DOUBLE DUH! Kris and Marian had a good look in the stores around the town square while Brian checked out the large Ace Hardware in town. Leaving Healdsburg we did a quick stop in the Friedman's Home Improvement store in Santa Rosa to see if they carry the type of solar powered motion detector LED lights that our landlord has used on the house in Petaluma. The lights must be popular because all Friedman's stores are sold out. Too bad, these are cool looking lights that we haven't seen at home and they create a nice bright light when they go off...
Oh well, maybe we'll spot them in a different store on our way up the coast. On the way back to Petaluma we stopped in at Trader Joe's and picked up some pre-made salads for dinner and just vegged out the rest of the day. Marian figured out how to use the Netflix so we watched a bit of Dr Who for entertainment.
Tuesday was pack it up day. We had to stick around the morning to meet our landlady Kim. Normally the damage deposit is automatically put back on the credit card used to book the place (presuming you haven't wrecked the place and do deserve to get the deposit back), but the card we used to book was one of Brian's that had to be replaced, so Kim skipped out of work for an early lunch and drove back to the house to give us a cash refund. We had a nice chat; we told her about our trip and she told us about the property etc etc. The wait was ok though as we all figured that Marian would have lots of time if she caught the 12:30 airport express, which she did.
After taking Marian down to the express bus terminal we waited until the bus arrived, said our goodbyes, then we headed off north on US-101. Since it was now early afternoon we reflected upon how good that pizza was at the Coppola winery yesterday and decided to share one of those for lunch; and of course partake in a couple of those panna cottas (no sharing these puppies!). Delicious, as expected and lovely to sit out on that patio.
After lunch we did a quick stop in Ukiah at Heidi's Yarn Haven and the Mendocino Book Company then a Safeway to pick up a few grocery items before continuing on to Benbow for our planned stop at the KOA there. We arrived early evening and by the time we were all set up it was going on 7:00 PM so we headed across the freeway to the historic Benbow Inn for some wine and munchies. There is a walkway that goes under the freeway, along the Eel River, to the inn. The water level in the river is even lower than it was last year when we stopped here...
... the sad thing is that this river is one of many salmon rivers in northern California that are so low the salmon are having trouble getting up stream. We heard, on the radio, one call for volunteers to go out and help salmon that have been trapped in pools where the water level is so low in the river that they can't get out of the pools.
Wednesday, continuing north on US-101, we stopped at Gills on the Bay, one of our long time favourite lunch spots, just south of Eureka, for a lunch...
...Never disappointed with this place. Kris had the usual grilled Sole and Brian had the usual fish and chips. In Eureka we parked in the historic district for a bit so Kris could check out the new and improved Northcoast Knittery store (they were just packing up to move when we were here last year), the Eureka Fabrics store just down the street and the Talisman Beads store around the corner. Just a few new beads on this occasion. The yarn stores are a bit of a must at this time as the pattern for the project Kris is working on called for less yarn than she actually needs, so she is trying to find more of the same and is not having a lot of luck :-( Leaving the historic district we stopped at the North Coast Co-op for some additional supplies (peanut butter, cheese, and a few other items) then a quick trip into Starbucks and we were on our way.
At Klamath River we stopped at Paul's Famous Smoked Salmon place, a little roadside joint that sells terrific smoked salmon, jerky along with locally made jams and crafts. We picked up some smoked salmon and huckleberry jam (Brian's favourite)...
.... the young man at the store was telling us that they have a different problem in the Klamath River. They have lots of water but the forest fires up stream seem to be holding the salmon back from heading up to the spawning grounds. He said they thought the fires were warming the river just enough to cause the salmon to hesitate going up. If it's not one thing, hey! Then it was just a short drive north to Crescent City where we booked into the KOA for the night. On the way through town, though, we stopped at the Perfect Yarn store (no web site so no link) where Kris did find a couple of balls of yarn to suit her needs but still needs more :-) then the Safeway where we picked up a nice chunk of locally caught King Salmon (we mostly call them Chinook Salmon at home) for dinner.
Thursday was a relatively short drive north out of California into Oregon to just south of Bandon where we almost always stay at the KOA. Along the way we stopped in Brookings to stock up on some wine and pick up some deli salmon and salads, for dinner, at Fred Meyer. Then we stopped for lunch at Griff's On the Dock in Port Orford. This has long been one of our favourites and never disappoints. The catch of the day was Red Snapper fish and chips which we both had and they were pretty well perfect. For an appetizer we tried their bucket of steamer clams; excellent as well; and followed the whole works up with a nice slab of Blackberry pie a la mode. Yumm :-) We arrived at the KOA about 3:30 PM, found out the place has been sold - so no big white kitty to pet in the office - so sad, but the new owners seem like great folks and they do have a cat as well but it is a bit standoffish at this time. We can only hope that it'll get used to being the "campground kitty". The new owners have some great sounding plans so this will likely remain one of our stops up and down the coast. We did the short drive into Bandon where Kris did a quick check at the Wool Company yarn store then we wandered around the historic old town area down by the dock but by then most of the stores were starting to close. Back at the KOA we met our neighbours, Jim and Carol, who are from Oceanside up in Washington State. Just as we knocked off a bucket list item by seeing all those ball games (a ball game in every MLB park), they are on their way home having knocked off one of their bucket list items by driving Route 66 from east to west. For dinner we ate the salmon and salads from Fred Meyer then finished the night with a couple of episodes of Homeland, the TV series.
Friday, another short drive day of about 2 hours to Mercer Lake RV resort just north of Florence on the Oregon coast. For lunch we stopped at another old favourite place, Fishpatrick's Crabby Cafe, on the dock at Winchester Bay. On this visit Kris had an appetizer of grilled oysters with a side salad and Brian ordered an appetizer of crab cakes, a side salad and a cup of clam chowder. All excellent. Afterwards we chatted with Stefan who has worked there for a number of years (turns out to be five) and has been there every time we have passed through since then. He told us he was an EMT but quit that to work at the cafe, works fewer hours and makes twice as much. Kris commented that this would be the place to choke on a fish bone; Stefan laughed and said that a couple of weeks ago they actually had a guy in the cafe who had a seizure followed by a stroke then his heart stopped. Stefan got to put his expertise to work and save the guy's life. Lucky man (the customer that is)! We also asked him if they were putting on a salmon bbq this weekend but alas, no. He explained that the guy who was going to be the main cook for the bbq up and quit... actually over the space of a couple of months the guy worked at and quit 3 cafe cook jobs, all on the same dock. Stefan figured the guy was just in it for the free t-shirts. We joked that maybe he was working his way across America collecting t-shirts :-) Anyway... too bad on the bbq front as we used to thoroughly enjoy them. Next door, at the Sportsman's Cannery, we picked up some salmon spread and red snapper filets for dinner along with a half dozen tins of salmon and tuna to take home.
We arrived at Mercer Lake early afternoon, checked in, booked for next year and got our wee trailer all set up in RV spot #5. Afterwards we drove into Florence to the old town waterfront and went into the Traveler's Cove to sit on their riverside balcony and enjoy a couple of glasses of wine.
Saturday was just a day to veg out. We walked down to the dock at the resort to sit and relax while sipping our coffee... beautiful views from the dock, both out over the lake...
... and back at the resort buildings (the RV park is up behind the cabins)...
We lounged around the trailer for the morning then Kris cooked up some quesadillas for lunch. In the afternoon we drove down to Florence Old Town and wandered along the waterfront street looking in many of the little touristy and boutique shops. The only Starbucks in town is in the Safeway but we stopped there anyway for an afternoon iced latte. For dinner we picked up some cooked salmon filets and superfood salad at the Fred Meyer deli. Pretty darn good eats for all of about $12 for the two of us.
The folks at Mercer Lake RV resort have done a lot of work replacing the old cable system so we were able to watch the Cardinals beat the Pirates in a National League pennant race game. The weather was perfect so sitting outside watching the game was a great way to end the week.
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