Coastal Delight- California Style

This past weekend, the Ol’ Man (Craig) and I headed to San Francisco for pizza and record shopping. We both scored great finds, spent way too much on vinyl and ate till our tummies hurt. We spent so much time rummaging around in Amoeba Music's treasures that we didn’t save time for any touristy fun (I kinda wanted to hit Ghirardelli Square). Instead, we made the trek to Santa Rosa by way of Highway 1. I know that is exactly not the way to Santa Rosa from San Francisco, but I really wanted to spend some time along the California Coast.

We stopped at Muir Beach to see the sights. It was beautiful, albeit overcast and chilly. We watched the tide roll in and adventured around until I spotted a starfish on one of the rocks. Oh, happy day! We also came across a huge rope that looks like it may have, at one time, tied a pretty big ship to an anchor, or possibly a lady to a railroad track.

After stopping at Muir Beach, we traveled along the Coast, past Point Reyes, until we hit Highway 12 and headed inland to Santa Rosa, where my dear friend Matt resides. We arrived just in time for burgers at Phyllis’ Giant Burgers and then caught the late showing of Predators. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Cheesy and fun and full of explosions, just the way I like my action films. The Ol’ Man had a lower opinion of the movie than I, but I think it’s because his expectations were so high. Predator is one of his favorite movies, you know.

The next morning, we headed to the Parkside Café for breakfast. I ordered a two-egg breakfast. I truly regret not taking a picture of my meal before devouring it. The sausage was the longest I’ve ever seen, at least five inches in length! Breakfast was delicious, and it hit the spot. Off to the Sonoma Coast!

Our drive to the Sonoma Coastline took us past various beautiful beaches and landed us at Wright’s Beach. Matt took some amazing pictures. Craig and I took naps. We took off our shoes and took in the sun. On the way back to the car, we decided it would be better to leave our shoes off so that we could avoid getting more sand in them, big mistake. We ran like desert lizards across the blistering sand. At one point, Craig was up ahead and fast approaching what looked like cooler sand. I shouted to him to confirm whether that was true. “No!” he shrieked in a little girl’s voice, “It’s a billion times hotter!” I’m still giggling about that one.

The rest of our day consisted of a visit to Bodega Dunes to check out the campgrounds and a stop off at Patrick’s Salt Water Taffy Shop where I bought a pound of delicious taffy, in various flavors. We visited an amazing taqueria in Sebastopol called Taqueria El Favorito, and watched a few episodes of Robotech before heading home.


I had yet another amazing weekend, thanks to friends, records, and the beach. Next weekend: camping in Napa Valley. I wish the summer would never end!