Hampton Inn Petaluma

Staying at this renovated old 1892 silk mill turned-Hampton Inn was an experiment I take full responsibility for. I generally like repurposed buildings, but this one had quirks up the wazoo. Unfortunately it was raining hard AND there was no in-house or nearby dining, which reduced us to nibbling on snacks while watching HGTV. It's a shame that there was no dinner there because the big, high-ceilinged breakfast / event room was great.

Grand Central Coffee

Our short, semi-rainy visit to Sebastopol was followed by a short, semi-rainy visit to Petaluma, round two. We wanted to check out this coffee house, despite having just been to a coffee house. This one apparently is situated in a old train depot right on the Petaluma River.

Retrograde Coffee

We sniffed out one of Sebastopol's more popular coffee houses and were lucky to get a table. I had to re-park the car and took some photos which upon scrutiny had some unintended humor. (I love unintended humor possibly even more than intended humor. It has the gravitas of being unintended).

Cozy Plum

We arrived in Sebastopol in time for lunch, which we had at Cozy Plum - a healthy, award-winning, plant-based restaurant. It was another good food decision, as far as I was concerned. I believe both the sandwich and the bread went by the name of Dutch Crunch, a term that was new to me. (Apparently it's a Bay Area thing like Sourdough Bread).

Bia Cafe

The Bia Cafe was a short walk from our cabin, and although it was initially quite crowded, in the end it worked out. The rain finally stopped and we had coffee and egg bagels at one of their outdoor tables. "Bia" is the Irish word for food, something I may have heard once.

Kent Crisps

There may be some confusion as to where exactly I ate my Kent Crisps. The photographic record suggests that it was in the cabin at Casa Secoya. What's probably a wrong memory suggests it was back in Bodega Bay, at The Inn at the Tides. So there you have it.

Casa Secoya

Our lodging for that night was Casa Secoya back in Monte Rio. On the face of it, this place was supposed to be an elegant repeat of last year's wonderful Hiouchi experiment. For various reasons it was not. One of those reasons was pouring rain. Others were too many people and various problems with the room. Anyway, we survived it, and I'll admit that this place could work under better conditions.