Sebastapol

After a wonderful day in the Redwoods, we moved on Southward towards Sebastapol.  Ray has a friend from way back in the day that lives in Sebastapol, and so our goal was to make it to Graham’s house by the evening.  We drove pretty much straight through, down the 1, and only stopped to cook some lunch at t cliff:

There was hardly any wind up there, and the view was incredible.

As we sat there, cooking and eating, a family of 3 came by.  The father told us he used to go diving down in the rocks below for Abalone, and he went right up to the edge of the cliff to show us how he used to get down.

“Daddy, be careful.”  His daughter kept saying.  They were a funny bunch.

Another family came by, with seven children.  The children were mysteriously well behaved.

Anyways, after that quick and beautiful pit-stop, we kept driving South.  We got to Graham’s house around 8, and sat with him and his girlfriend Tara for a while.  I was exhausted, for some reason, and just wanted to read my book Mother Night.  So that’s what I did, while Graham and Ray walked around Sebastapol.  It was nice to have a roof over our head and great company.

Graham and his girlfriend Tara are amazing people.  They are welcoming and hospitable, but beyond that, they are just people you want to be around.  I loved spending time with them, and getting to know them each.

In the morning, we woke up and ate a wonderful home cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs and waffles.  And orange juice to boot.

We jumped in the car, Ray as a passenger for the first time in weeks, and Graham drove us to the local Redwoods, the Anderson Redwoods.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around on the trails, and it was, of course, beautiful.

I think the day in the Northern Redwoods was much more magnificent, but this was still nice.  The forest smelled very strongly of….Earth?  Something.  It was nice.

After that, we drove to Bodega Bay, to see some more beautiful things.

The sky was clear.  Not too windy.  Lovely.

That little white speck there, is a lovely little seal.  Here it is sitting in zoom mode:

What a crazy little seal.

It heard us talking on the cliff above, and looked up right at us.  It did some rolls on the rock, like it was putting on a show.  Seals don’t care.

We walked along the cliff for a while, soaking in the sun and the sights.

On the walk back to the car, we watched a coyote and a hawk hunting for their dinner.  I was surprised to see such wildlife there, when there were people everywhere.

It was a really lovely day.  After we left the beach, we went to an amazing little hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant, where Graham and Tara are regulars.  I ordered Linguine with clams, mussels, scallops, and calamari, fra diavolo.  It was the best food I’ve eaten in a very long time.

We parted ways after dinner, Graham and Tara taking the night easy, while Ray and I drove into San Francisco to see my friends from high school.  I met up with Dani and his girlfriend Lauren, Morgan Brown, and Chloe, for a drink.  They had to turn in early, because they have real-life jobs, and so we went to my friend Chris’s house to crash there for the night.  Another incredibly hospitable host, we had a great evening.

Today, we are off to explore the city of San Francisco!