Night and Day (Sun and Rain)

The weather yesterday versus today has been like night and day.  On Thursday, we took a long anticipated trip over to the Sonoma Coast and up the coast to Fort Ross--the site of a Russian America outpost when Sitka, Alaska was  a busy trading post for the Russians.

Map of the California Sonoma Coast

Sounds like a good idea since the weather forecast was good--right?  Well.....another lesson learned here in that we did not check the website and drove all the way over on a very winding highway only to find that Fort Ross Historical Site was closed.  What a bummer!  We will have to come back when we are traveling in a sports car designed for curvy roads and crazy California drivers who want to take 15 mph curves at 35 mph or more.  Maybe if we had a Jaguar instead of a GMC truck we would understand the other drivers better.

This is What We Would Have Seen at Fort Ross

Friday was predicted to be a very wet day (and it was).  There is a big weather system (Pineapple Express or Pipeline) that is bringing lots of rain right into San Francisco.  So--we are leaving for points south tomorrow (Saturday) and will be taking the Fiver across the Golden Gate Bridge and then down to highway 280 and eventually back to connect to 101 South in San Jose.  We did have a chance today to visit with fellow Forest Service retiree, Carl who took us to a nice eatery in Petaluma.  We had a good visit and caught up some.  They are "really into wine", so we will try to stop on our way north for some vintage education.

Our next stop is San Juan Bautista south of Monterey, which will break up our run down to Pismo Beach for several days.  We hope that the weather improves some as we get down there.  San Juan Bautista has a Franciscan mission and we are looking forward to exploring this area.

Our View North along the Sonoma Coast Before Heading Back Inland

We have really enjoyed our stay here in Petaluma and appreciate the advice of family on the ferry trip into San Francisco.  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela