destination: Petaluma

To continue our Tour de North Bay (wait, did I not tell you that we were going on an exploration of all things North Bay?  Ok, well, now that we have that squared away, let's begin.)

So today, we are going to Petaluma, which is also in the North Bay in Marin County.

 

Fun Fact: One of my freshman year roommates was from Petaluma.  She looked just like Frida Kahlo.  See below, this isn't a picture of my roommate, this is the real deal, Frida, but she looked just.like.this.

Photo credit of Frida Kahlo

Anywho, back to our mission at hand.  Petaluma is a cute little town that all other little towns should aspire to be like.  Because you know why? There was major hustle and bustle for a Sunday afternoon!  They have converted a warehouse area into trendy living/shopping/dining.  We didn't actually do any of those while we were there however.  We were walking Barkley and looking at doorways like the pictures below.  It seems as if the hustle and bustle of Petaluma isn't just a new thing, with architecture like this - this town seems to have been very busy back in the day.  I, however, am just using my deductive reasoning skills, I haven't however taken the time to learn the history of Petaluma on Wikipedia.  Also, if you were into antique things, as in shopping for all things antique.

But if you are bored...I've made it really easy for you.  Go here.  (I just read a little bit of the history of Petaluma and I learned that Petaluma held the World Championships of Arm Wrestling from 1952 - 2004.)  Uh, Hello! Mystery solved...I now know why Petaluma is so hoppin'. There you have it - arm wresting, antiques and architecture (I really didn't mean for that to be a list of A words, but isn't that cool?!)

Pardon me and my simple pleasures.

Stay tuned for the next installment in Where in the world are we in the North Bay?...

I know! I can hardly wait too!  

destination: Occidental

Do you like Where's Waldo? I do. Maybe it's because my 7th grade band uniform was the same rugby shirt that Waldo wears, or maybe it's because I like the thrill of finally finding that little man with the glasses and red and white striped hat, or maybe it's because sometimes my 2 imaginary friends, Tala and Tutu, didn't play with me and I needed to do something on my own.  By the way, my imaginary friends moved away one day - to Hawaii.  True story. We have yet to go to Hawaii, that too, is on our West Coast bucket list.  I think I'll have to look up Tala and Tutu on that day that I arrive in Hawaii. I wonder what they are up to these days? 

Pardon me, I was side tracked. 

I sure hope Tala and Tutu read my blog. 

Ok, so now you are probably wondering what on earth this has anything to do with Occidental, California.  It doesn't really.  It's just that Occidental is in a part of Sonoma County that you aren't likely to visit when you are in wine country and you have to pay VERY close attention so as to not overlook this small town with glasses and a red and white striped shirt. 

So, last weekend as part of our wedding anniversary extravaganza, we went to Occidental.  (We really live it up, I know!)  Mike had an event, while Barkley and I went for a walk throughout their downtown.  Our walk really just turned into pacing up and down the one block's worth of town, but that's beside the point.  I had my camera in hand and Barkley had plenty of sticks.  We are simple people (you must now be slowly understanding why I had 2 imaginary friends, no?).

I must come clean to you - there were a few more places that were in Occidental's downtown, but I figured if you've seen one fire station/post office - you've seen them all.