Out of our Bubble...

...Hubby surprised me with a little get-away this week.  At first I thought he was joking or just talking but no! He wanted to take me to Sebastopol and to the ocean to get a breath of salt air. It's been a stressful time with deaths in our family & illness for us and others, so it was nice to get out of our bubble. He wouldn't listen to my protests & lists of things to do.  I'm so glad he didn't.
A few years ago we set out for Sebastopol after a get-away stay in Petaluma but taking a different turn (wrong turn) we ended up at Point Reyes Lighthouse & Drake's Bay.  I blogged about that get-away too. Click HERE to see that post & video. I'll share my photos, even though most were taken from our moving vehicle.
On our way to Jenner we made a detour to visit Occidental, home of the The Union Hotel.  My late Mother-in-Law used to go there when she was a little girl. His family used to take the long windy drive from San Francisco just to eat a dinner of duck at this out of the way tiny town on the Bohemian Hwy. It opened in 1879. They no longer serve duck but do still serve family style Italian food. Just click on the picture below to read more about it.

We went into a few beautiful shops, actually there are only a few, because this town is tiny.  I'd like to go back one day to eat at the Union Hotel or Nigri's Italian Family Style Dinners We then headed to the coast to Jenner to get some of that salt air.  The drive & the day were gorgeous. 

*used a zoom

Jenner, CA

And we found a few surprising places...

"Amusements" Park ?

Monte Rio is on the Russian River

When we entered this fork in the road & I read the sign I have to admit that I felt like I entered the Twilight Zone, not a Wonderland, suddenly feeling like a character in a horror movie, potential victim actually. Silly as it seems, I'm glad we are keeping to the right! haha If anyone knows & loves this place forgive me & please tell me it's not creepy.  Certain towns and places in this neck of the woods give off a "Alfred Hitchcockie" kind of vibe to me, a "disturbance in the force".  Then, coincidentally, when we were eating supper, the couple in back of us were talking about the same thing.  I'm not the only person that feels this way! The man was telling the woman that "There are roads you wouldn't want to go down around here."  Not that I was eavesdropping but we were the only people in the cafe at the time (eating a late lunch/early dinner) and the food was so good we weren't talking at our table!  Popping into the  East West Cafe in Sebastopol was a tasty treat. Hubby is still talking about his Lamb Kabobs. 

When checking out of the hotel a local free travel/area magazine caught my eye.  My right brain quickly noticing a man painting on the front.  That man/artist is Thomas Arvid. Inside was a really nice article about him and his art. He paints realistic wine inspired paintings, bottles, corks, etc... Click on his name to view his bio & art. Anyway I grabbed 3 free local info magazines for the Wine Country, Sonoma & Napa Counties. 

Last night I read them all then cut them up so I could throw them away.  (The way I deal with my magazine addiction. haha) I made a collage from what I found in these periodicals.  Using Golden Matte Medium I glued my cutouts to heavy card-stock.  If you plan to do this using the same medium beware that the paper grabs right to the card-stock so there is no moving around once you lay it down.  I laid it out before I glued it down. Now I can print it out or re-cut the pieces out & use mounted on the card-stock. That is what I might do if I make a little memory book from our trip. Speaking of bookmaking, stop by next Thursday for Ta Da Thursday! 

 I scanned it after it was dry and cleaned it up a little. 

You are free to use this page. Print or for inspiration.

So next time you are on a adventure don't overlook those free area guides! 

They are great for inspiration, art projects, mixed media, collage, journal or scrapbook projects!

Just right click on the picture and save to your computer.

If you use it, please don't forget to share your creation with me and I will share whatever I end up creating with this collage page.

God Bless & Thanks for stopping by!

A Song, A Service & A Show!...

... On Sunday I actually slept in late, which is rare. 

Must have been that cushy bed.

It was nice but at the same time I was very disappointed

that we missed church services at Grace Cathedral. 

We decided to take a walk down to Chinatown,

 just a few blocks at the bottom of the hill. 

While standing in front of a little tea shop,

a big man in a black suit, bowler hat & a

big beautiful husky baritone voice came up to me & 

sang me a joyful spiritual song! 

Unfortunately I didn't get his picture. 

After that Hubby was inspired & decided we should

walk up California Street & go visit the Cathedral anyway. 

Walking up California street on the way up

took every butt muscle we have. But Surprise!

(no pun intended) It was worth it!

When we got there they were having a special

Asia- America service!

So I got a song, a service & a show!

 

 

 

Satyr-1, a street artist we met by the park.

Of course I had to stop & watch for a second.

 I can't wait to go back & see his work finished.

 

 

 

A pretty plant vendor's string gardens on the street. She

was shy & wouldn't let me take her picture.

Hey Tom Hanks I found Zoltar! That's Big! haha

(loved that movie)

 

A beautiful statue on California Street. Half way there.

Had to stop & get a picture just to rest for a second!

 

Grace Cathedral sits atop the highest hill in San Francisco.

A beautiful girl in kimono who did a Japanese dance,

part of the service in the Cathedral.

 

Taiko Drummers in the courtyard of the Cathedral.

After all the walking up & down hills,

and the beautiful Asian service;

Hubby said he was craving Japanese food!

So we popped into Sushi Toni

on the way back to our place and got a little bite.

 

 

Yum...nap time!

 

A Week in San Francisco...

... My BFFs gave me a week in the Nob Hill section of San Francisco for my birthday! They actually got the trip for free on a fluke, so I consider this trip a gift from God as well as from them!  God is great & so are they! I felt very blessed. We stayed at the Powell Place. It was beautiful, like our own little apartment but with all the perks of a fine hotel. Close to the top of the highest hills in the city, at the corner of Powell & California.  We got lots of exercise walking up & down the hills.
Our place was larger than imagined & nicer than expected. It had a bedroom, bath, spacious living room/ dining room & kitchen. It was at the back of the building (house) with a view of a garden (well treetops actually) just outside a big picture window. It was quiet with the exception of the ding ding ding -bell from the cable car that stopped at the top of of Powell Street.  The weather was so lovely & the trees just swayed the breeze into our place, along with the smell of steak, garlic & muffled laughter at night from nearby restaurants.  The staff there was so nice too. Here are a few of my favorite photos I took of "The City" while I was there... tomorrow I'll take you to Chinatown!

 

 

 

The Tadich Grill 

 

 

 

Powell at night

 

 

*****

The horrible plane crash in SF today came to my attention after my initial post. Heartfelt sympathies  go out to all those on board, & to the families of those that were lost.  It was a blessing from God that so many survived.  Another reminder to live everyday to the fullest.

A Joy Ride...

...Come on let's go!

Come Go With Me ...

...to Petaluma & The Great Pacific!

Last week flew by! Hubby's band played a big wedding in Sonoma on Saturday and so we took this opportunity to take a little weekend vacation. His great aunt used to live in Petaluma and on the couple of occasions we visited her years ago, we never went downtown, it was many many years later that we went through downtown Petaluma and it was then that I fell in love with it. Some towns have a good feeling to them and some not so much. Petaluma is a good feeling town. The people are very friendly, there are great restaurants, architecture, cute shops, lots of antiques, the river, and the weather seems to always be perfect when we are there. Next time we go I think I will spend more time taking photographs. While he played I kept myself busy doing a few pastel paintings which I will share soon. Petaluma is famous for it's chickens & eggs, another reason for me to love it. haha

You know how I love to drive, go places I've never been, fly by the seat of my pants with no plans, well my husband hates that. He's a planner. I used to hate that he's a planner but because of it, I have ended up with a lot of great experiences & we've got a lot done that we probably wouldn't have had I been in charge. haha I'd say we balance each other out. Him being a planner is what made yesterday so special because he didn't plan & we ended up going somewhere we'd never been! I love that & he knows it! We left Petaluma and headed for the beach. We ended up at Drake's Beach & the Point Reyes Lighthouse, the windiest spot on the west coast and the 2nd foggiest. Not sure how they measure that but that's what they claim. As you can see it was a beautiful cloudless, fogless day. We approached Tomales Bay on a 2 lane road with the banks covered in eucalyptus trees & wild fennel. The smell was instantly soul healing. It's chilly at the beach unless you are in So Cal so taking the 1/2 mile jaunt up the cliff to the lighthouse without a sweater was a little rough at times with that wind blowing. At the top we were greeted by a big whale skull & blow you over wind that rattled the chain link fencing like a musical instrument. I started down the 300+ steps to the lighthouse but had to gingerly turn around trying not to embarrass myself. I'm afraid of heights & with the ocean moving on both sides of the cliff, the tiny & ladder steep stairs, the wind, ugh, I got verdigo so badly that I thought I was going to fall down or have to come back up on my butt one step at a time. That would have been a sight! I would have been the main attraction! haha

I was surprised the entire day at how many beautiful plants & flowers there were growing on the cliffs and around the beaches. I had to stop & take pictures of them all. I've got too many to share in just one post. I may do a few in black & white to post on my black & white blog.

On the way home we went through the cute little town of Fairfax. I'd love to go back & hang out, maybe camp in the big grove of redwood trees that are just outside of town that we didn't know existed, at the Samuel P Taylor state park.

Awwwwww Yes he did! :)

He even let me pick out dinner... my choice Chipotle burrito bowl with lots & lots of their hottest sauce! Yum! (I ate the leftovers for breakfast) AND he stopped at my favorite produce place in Dixon on the way home! Until yesterday who knew eating cornbread, popcorn & beer bread was such a problem for people! hahaha

A Big Shout Out goes to Paigeweasel, LoftyAmbitions, DownstreamDiva, LuvZit, and WhatsHerName for including my artwork in their Etsy Treasury collections! Thank you so much! Please stop by their Etsy Shops by clicking on their names. It's sweet people such as these that make Etsy a truly special place.