Bodega Bay

We decided not to take a regular vacation this year, partly because money is kinda tight, and also because Genevieve isn’t thriving, and we would feel weird asking anyone to take care of her for several days.  Blind, kinda confused, not a lot of appetite, questionable tummy issues, etc.  And since we live in a beautiful part of the country, we have been mostly staying close to home, and adding in a few day trips.  Monday we went to San Francisco to see Another Earth, which was really good.  Wednesday, we drove to Bodega Bay.  I’d never been before, and Ted hadn’t been since he was 5 or 6.

Bodega Bay is a tiny little town at the northern end of Bodega Harbor, which is at the northern end of, um, Bodega Bay.  Then there’s the town of Bodega, about a mile inland.  Don’t try to keep up, it doesn’t matter.  We got there not quite sure what to expect, and went looking for a place to eat our picnic lunch, which was Ina Garten’s oven fried chicken (a misnomer, because it’s started in the oil), fruit, potato salad, and drinks. Yummy.  We drove right through Bodega Bay (the town) without seeing any place that we wanted to stop, and went around the harbor and out to Bodega Head, which is the tip of the land where the Bay and the ocean meet.  Love the ocean.  Gorgeous views.  We saw the little spouts left by whales, which isn’t terribly common this time of year.  Or at least, not according to the literature I found online, which said winter is the best time to see whales.

We saw sea lions.  We saw pelicans.  I wanted to get a picture of some pelicans flying, but I was too slow with my camera and missed it.  Pretend I took this awesome shot, which I actually found here.  Mine would have been mine, but it wouldn’t have been this good, close, and crisp.

After our picnic, we walked around and enjoyed the sights and sounds and the wonderfully salty air of the ocean. Such a lovely spot, only 1.5 hours from our house. There were lots of flowering native plants, and interesting bug houses, and a beautiful overcast day.

When we determined we had had enough of the wind and the surf, we drove around the harbor back into town, and went looking for a few places that Ted had discovered in his online research. First stop was Candy and Kites, where we learned that what makes salt water taffy is marketing. In other words, there’s no salt water involved. You can read the story here, if you’re so inclined.

So we got some taffy, and some wonderful salted caramel (made in Minnesota, I think), and looked at the huge variety of kites for awhile. We then went to a couple of art galleries. The Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery specializes in historic California painting. I really liked this piece, Falling Leaves, by Robert Landry. But I didn’t have $2,200 to spend on art, so I left it behind.

The other painting I quite liked was Cherokee Trail, by Kirk Pedersen.

This one was $7,500, so again, it was left behind.  Too bad, because both Ted and I liked it, and all too often, we don’t both like the same stuff.  I go in for impressionist type flowers and so on, and he likes abstract, sort of geometric stuff.  This one kind of hits both.  They had quite a few lovely paintings, and the gallery had a lot of more traditional paintings of people and California scenery as well.

Right next door is the Ren Brown Collection Gallery, which specializes in modern Japanese art, and had not only paintings, but also pottery and jewelry as well. They had some lovely works, as well as some hangers that you use to hang your kimono…which made me wonder if I could get one and use it to display my wedding sari. I didn’t do it, because I’m afraid the sari fabric is far too silky and soft, and it wouldn’t lay correctly on the hanger.

We gave up looking at art that we can’t afford, and moved on to gourmet au bay, a wine shop with tasting flights and a lovely deck, where you can while away some time, admire the fact that the sun has burned through the fog, and watch the occasional pelican, all whilst nibbling on cheese and crackers and tasting wine. The only bummer was that the tasting area is for adults only, and we had our teen with us. Happily, there is one table over in the merchandise area of the store, which has a window with a pretty good view, so we were able to sit there and enjoy some wine, while Maya had some water. We relaxed there for awhile, and we bought a bottle of wine for $24 that we found the next day at our local grocery for $16. Oh well, it’s vacation, right?

By this point we were hungry, and went looking for dinner. It was only 4:30, but we’d hiked around quite a bit and built up an appetite. Unfortunately, not many restaurants are open for dinner at 4:30, even the ones that say on their signage that they are. We ended up at the Tides Wharf restaurant, which was mediocre food, but a lovely view.  If you look at the view from the deck at the wine bar, you can see the restaurant off to the left, at the water.  Maya enjoyed the view of a guy who looked kinda like a skinny Michael Phelps, who was sitting right by the window, so she could watch him while also enjoying the beautiful view out of the windows. The Tides Wharf boasts that their bar was included in the Alfred Hitchcock classic, “The Birds”, though that building burned down years ago, and has been rebuilt.

Overall it was a great day, and we came home kinda tired and happy, and one nice thing about vacationing from home was that we were able to sleep in our own beds that night. Nice.