In Search of The Reccuring Dreamscape

Hey Bee, whenever you get a tooth Buddy loses one!

So heres the deal. I have had this recurring dream for as long as I can remember.. It's not really a dream maybe just a REM reminder of a long past memory. I have it often and I believe it stems from one of my first childhood memories. I'm walking in a shallow river picking up rocks with older kids skipping rocks. There are little fish in the river. It smells glorious and I like it. So with my mothers help we have figured it was either Hendy Woods State Park or Eddersberg. Both places we would frequent with my 2nd cousins and family friends. Because Hendy Woods was close (2 hours) and my mother remembers the river being shallow we thought we would take a road trip in search of my dreamscape.

Up 101 to Mendocino county.

On arrival no bells went off, but it was a lovely place for a picnic.

Into the woods we go. Mr. Hendy Wood held on to 200 Acres of virgin redwood forest when everything was being clearcut at the turn of the century.

Just stunning. By far Redwoods are all of our favorite. The smell, the silence, the size.

Whenever we enter Mom says, "Forest Primevel."

These are the big guys 200' to 275'

See the resemblance in the diameter of the tree and my thighs?

Frank likes to explore.

We were trying to measure this fallen giant, we got 300'.

"Hey Franky,I smell something." After hiking on a nice trail for a mile or 2 I got a whiff of heaven.

Yep, this is it.

Tears actually came to my eyes. This is my dreamscape. There's my river. Shallow, rocks and little fish.

Franky found a boat

This is why it smells so good. This river rages through the Anderson Valley to the Mendocino Coast in the winter. When the water recedes in the dry months all these wildflowers thrive into the summer. Wild mint, heleanthella, goats beard. Just delicious. I wish I could bottle it and take it home.

This is the shot that is etched in my memory. Not a sound, but the birds and bugs and Franky in da boat.

On the trail back we found more fun stuff. Big ol' root.

Penis Burl. Need I say more?

More pretty

Lovely organic apple farm on highway 128. This road is outstanding. It runs from 101 to the town of Mendocino. It's a running postcard.

At the stand they had 28 different varieties of organic apples. I know it's not quite apple season so we got some peaches that were picked that morning.

The Anderson Valley is known for it's Pinot Noir. Cool climate (fog in the morning) means the grapes ripen slowly.

Our next destination was the well known Boonville Brewery. It was 6pm and it was closing. We were sad, but went and had a nice dinner at Picks in Cloverdale.

Our plan was to spend the night in Cloverdale and spend some time there at the Russian River the next day. Franky came prepared with his earplugs. There is some snoring going on!

While eating our waitress informed us that there was a high bacteria count in the water. She said our skin would fall off. Not being the type to mess around with bacteria that makes your skin fall off, we decided to head out River Road to the Sonoma Coast. If we can't swim in the river we will go to the Beach.

I love my new iphone with google gps. This is a backroad I found that went straight through the heart of Russian River wine country.

Lots of small, charming vineyards and B & B's.

This is Duncan Mills. We had come here a few weeks ago for a day. It is on the river, but it is close enough to the coast that it is effected by tides. Great on a hot day. Oh, and there was lots of folks in the river and their skin was still attached.

More Duncan Mills. It's an adoraable town and only 10 minutes from the BEST Italian food on the West Coast in Occidental...That's another blog.

Jenner, by the Sea. Where the Russian River hits the Pacific.

This will do. Flake and Bake!

Mom got through flaking and put her clothes on. Franks a stud. Buddy hides under the chair.

The Sonoma Coast is beautiful. Every bit of the California coast has it's own signature. The Sonoma Coast is rough and majestic, but not to where it's scary like farther up north.

Goat Rock

We stopped here and enjoyed the view and ate.

Bodega Bay on the way home. After this I got us lost. My 3G network was not working. No GPS. Oh well, we got home eventually. After looking at my photos, I can say thank you God for allowing me to live here. It's beautiful!

Go Giants!

Mary, Lindsay and Shelby came up for a Giants game and Bordanave's Sourdough....

not necessarily in that order

The ferry trip is always fun and a great excuse to start drinking Corona's at 11am

Go Gramma. (Okay, it's mine)
Beautiful San Quentin in the background. I hear the governator is thinking about selling this prime real estate. Most in Marin wish they would as the boys use about 1/10 of all our water which is a scarce commodity...and you know what's the use of having 5000 eligible single guys in the county if they're not adding to the dating pool!
Angel Island Japanese Internment Camp. They have just restored this scary piece of our history. 60,000 Japanese came through here in WWII. It is a lovely state park now. Great place to ride bikes...360 degree views.

The City. As a teenager and a young adult I was in the city every weekend. I later moved here for five years. I loved it. I don't frequent it too much anymore. The older I get the more I appreciate my natural habitat. It is comforting to know it is 20 minutes from our house, but I'm a nature girl now.

The Ferry Building which houses about 100 culinary shops and the farmers market.

SF version of Chelsea Market.

This was the Embarcadero. Now that the stadium is here they have extended it and renamed it Herb Caen Way. It's basically a pedestrian path all along the waterfront. I use to get on the underground and be here in 10 minutes from my place uptown. A nice place to "sit on the dock of the bay."

Lot's of YMCA camp kids were going to the game. I am always amazed at the cultural diversity in the city. Makes you want to sing "Jesus loves the little children."

For evening games the ferry brings you right to the park. Day games you have to walk a mile or two as there isn't ample parking at the ferry on the Marin side. About 15,000 commuters take the Ferry from Marin daily.

The Park

The Fans

Not bad seats considering there was five of us and it was last minute. Got to love Craigslist.

Bleacher seats, but they were on the rail.

Mary cup collecting after the game. Re-use, Recycle.
Giants won in the 10th. We are IN this wildcard race.

Come on Girls.

The Bay Bridge on the way home. Treasure Island in the distance.

Manja time, Franks smoking a stogie outside.

This was the third loaf of Bordanave's sourdough we had been through since Mary's arrival. It is the best. Nothing like it. Mary gained 22 pounds in 2 days.

We were planning on bringing the girls up to Pheonix lake in Ross as it is Mary's favorite lake. For some reason they wanted to get back to 100 degree weather and dirty air. (Shelby had teenage stuff to do.) We decided to go without them as Frank had the day off. He looks hot driving my car. I was trying to get a picture of the girls getting all flustered as we drive by. Go get 'em Frank. They are Ross girls, they have trust funds!

Pheonix Lake with The Sleeping Lady in the background.

Barry Zito's (the Giants pitcher we wish we could have our $ back for) house up on the ridge over looking the lake. That's what 8.2 million will by you in Marin.

The historic Coffin house. They were early settlers to the area. Frank and I have recently taken an interest in local history. They built the first dam here and later donated this huge chunk of real estate. Mt. Baldy in the background. Frank and I left the house one day and ended up hiking over Baldy down to the lake before we crapped out. Had to call Mom to pick us up. Couldn't hike another step. About 8 miles, mostly uphill.

Grandmother, Grandson as they call each other.

Loads of estates on the way home. This is the Dead house on Shady Lane. The Grateful Dead lived here for a couple of years

Going home. There's the girls in volleyball shorts on bikes. They timed it perfectly. They had actually followed the car rode around the lake and left when we did. They were hot for Franky.