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| Sarah and Beth enjoying a little mother/daughter time while James and Emma bounced away in the bounce house at the big event. |
One of our favorite places to visit along the Sonoma Coast is Bodega Bay. We enjoyed spending a month there several years ago, and always try to revisit it when we're in the area. From Monte Rio there are two options to get there. There's the coastal route taking Highway 116 to Jenner and then turning south on the Pacific Coast Highway. The views along the coast are spectacular. The other option is taking the Bohemian Highway through Occidental. The inland route is also amazing, although the road is more winding and it's about 10 minutes longer. An easy solution would be to take one route there and the other coming back.
A word of caution about Bodega Bay (and the entire Sonoma coast), the weather can be very different along the coast. I've blogged about the microclimates out here before and right now is another good example. Current temperature in Monte Rio is 83 and calm. In Bodega Bay, which is just 18 miles away, it's 67 with wind gusts up to 35 mph! In addition to the temperature, the coast can get quite foggy, especially at this time of the year. There are webcams in many of the small cities along the coast that can give you a peak at what might be going on weather wise.
Bodega Bay Webcam
While in Monte Rio, we made it over to Bodega Bay twice. On our first visit we enjoyed spending some time at Doran Beach Regional Park. The wide beach is over two miles long and is great for walking, sitting and staring, or watching the windsurfers on the bay side of the narrow strip of land. After working up a good appetite from walking a bit we headed towards Bodega Head, stopping for Clam Chowder and a Shrimp Po' Boy at Fisherman's Cove. There are actually two restaurants side by side (Fisherman's Cove and Spud Point Crab Company), we enjoy both of them equally. We chose Fisherman's Cove this time because the line was a little shorter. If there is a long line, don't worry, it moves quickly!
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| Along the path to Doran Beach |
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| Every good hike should have benches along the way! |
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| Bodega Bay |
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| You gotta eat, you might as well eat good! |
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| Scrabble with a view.......it was a big day........I won with a seven-letter word on my last play. |
We then made our way to Bodega Head, a rocky overlook with the Pacific Ocean on one side and Bodega Bay on the other. Unfortunately, the winds had picked up so we cut our visit short and headed back towards Monte Rio, happy to have revisited such a special place.
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| The fog (and cold) rolling in at Bodega Head |
Our trip to the small village of Bodega was really memorable. We saw signs and had read about the annual fundraiser for the Bodega Volunteer Fire Department that sounded like fun. It featured a parade, live music and a bbq, raising money for the volunteer fire department. The Bodega Volunteer Fire Department and similar fire departments in the small communities out here play a huge role as first responders for all types of emergencies, including stopping wildfires before they get out of control. The event is called "The Big Event", and it was an absolute small town celebration worthy of its name.
Sarah, James and Emma met us in Bodega just as the festivities were getting underway. The parade is affectionately billed as "one of the countries smallest parades". Yes, it was small, but what it lacked in size it more than made up for with enthusiasm. It was mostly firetrucks from the various local communities, a few older model cars, a couple of groups of horseback riders, including a representative of the local Republican's Club, who was proudly carrying a Trump flag. It wouldn't be real popular in most of California, but in this rural area the cheers greatly outweighed the smattering of boos. After the parade Sarah and James left for a birthday party, while Emma stayed with us as we continued to enjoy what was truly "The Big Event"!
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| Chicken and Tri-tip on the grill! |
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| Lots of pride! |
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| James and Emma gathered enough candy to feed a small army! |
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| James and Emma with their friend Alfred Hitchcock. Many scenes from "The Birds" was filmed in Bodega including the scary schoolhouse scene. |
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| Emma trying to teach me how to dance! |
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| Her first horseback ride! |
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Locals and visitors mixing and mingling at The Big Event
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| There were three bands. We only heard the first one and they were really good (sorry I didn't get the name). The last band of the day was a Tom Petty Tribute Band that we heard last year in Monterey. We enjoyed them and would have like to have stuck around, but we could only take in so much in one day.................... |
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| Even Emma was looking a little ragged by the end! |
The bbq was great, the music was fantastic, and Emma bounced to her hearts content in the bounce house. I'm not sure what their total funds raised was, but I'm hoping it was a bunch of money because it's such an important part of the safety of the residents and visitors.
