California – Day 2 (July 20)

So it must be confusing to be reading these blogs for yesterday a day later, and I am feeling a lack of direction for this particular piece, but  here it goes.  And just so we understand each other, it’s hard to post on the day without staying up super late to write on the day that just happen.  So, here we are.

Today (meaning yesterday) mom and I woke up nice and early to start our adventures in Northern California.  I decided to run.  Up a hill.  Because they are unavoidable. By the time I reached my halfway point I realized I could walk as fast as I was running.  And when I reached the top the phrase “breathtaking view” held some brand new meaning as I sucked for air while gazing out across this drier Rwandan-looking expanse of hills and gorges.

Then we headed to Santa Rosa to complete our missions for the day:  two business meetings for Mom and visits to Guernville and Healdsburg.  For the business meetings I had some work time and lunch and then we were set to trek out on our day’s real adventures.

Guernville is hippie central.  Right off the bat I stumbled across two incoherent beings, one mumbled something strange that I am now having trouble recollecting and the other was a young boy sitting on a fence mumbling for “spare change.”  Now, by the time I could decipher what the second was saying I was well past him and quickly realized he would probably turn around and use it for weed.

The majority of the stores in this town had something to do with marihuana.  We did not stay long because there was not much of a main street, but it was fun to visit the small stretch of bright stores and enjoy a couple yummy truffles.  Also, we actually got stuck talking to a store owner about best routes to get everywhere, and I mean everywhere, we were going while in California.  Can say I don’t remember a word, but he sure was enthusiastically helpful.

Healdsburg, for those of us Illinoisans, is a glorified downtown Geneva.  Everything is expensive and the food is not great.  We walked down the main street, the whole length of the down town area, without even rubbernecking at any given shop.  At the end of the road, however, we discovered the chamber of commerce and got our hands on a map.  Now, I was completely famished, but then we stepped into this fair trade store called One World Fair Trade.  Through this store I got to travel back to Africa and travel to all sorts of other countries.  New breath was blown into my lungs.  Our next chosen destination from our new handy-dandy map was the Upper Level Art Gallery.  It literally existed on the upper level of a trendy bookstore and there was everything from oil paining, to photography, to ethnic sculpting, to jewelry making.  It was a brilliant niche of eclectic, local art.

After a few other lesser exciting stores and some super salty dinner, we were on our way back to our Japanese-esk hotel for some wine and a chick flick.

P.S.  I do not recommend plum wine or Just Go With It.