I love that we live in Northern California, Petaluma to be exact. It is unbelievably beautiful this time of year. The hills are so bright green I feel like I'm in Ireland! We went for a Sunday drive today to see where the day took us. My husband just got a GoPro and he wanted to play with it so he can learn how it works…we got some beautiful footage just driving but he hasn't downloaded it yet. I did put it on the dash to get a road pic...
We drove out to Bodega Bay and went to our favorite Clam Chowder spot right down the hill from Bodega Head and got some red chowder to split. I LOVE clam chowder but had never tried the red because the white is SOOOO good! But now that we're eating right, the red doesn't have all the cream, so I gave it a go!! It was fantastic!! I loved it, it had a kick to it too!
We parked out at Salmon Creek and watched the surfers while we ate our chowder:) We drove around some cute neighborhoods and stopped by the surf shop…then I remembered I'd been wanting to stop by Gourmet Au Bay! It's a wine tasting room, right on Highway 1, that I remember seeing an article on in Sunset Magazine where they have wine flights served on little wooden surfboards! So my husband said, "OK...if you really want to". (We live in wine country, but sometimes getting my husband to go wine tasting is like pulling teeth.) He always ends up enjoying it when we go though;)
I got a flight (because I wanted the surfboard!) and my husband got a glass of Pinot and we headed out to the deck out back that overlooks the bay. It was beautiful…sunny and calm, and the wine was quite good;) No attack birds in sight;)
Before leaving, we browsed the gift shop and saw a couple of signs that made us laugh...
My husband thought that last one was hilarious! We talked about heading home, but decided to head to Tomales Bay to our absolute FAVORITE spot for oysters. The last two times we went it was cold and windy, and today was gorgeous, so we took advantage…and headed toward The Marshall Store. You order inside, and they have all kinds of oysters to choose from. You then sit along the highway on these old wooden tables…it's a good people watching place. A few years back we went and the only other people there were a bride and groom, all decked out…she was in a full blown wedding gown! How cool is that!?
Here's a pic I took in the past when we took some friends, a couple dozen of some different kinds...
This time we just shared an order of 6, and went without all the bacon and saucy ones today...AND we left that tasty garlic bread on the plate for the very first time!! Honestly, I didn't even want it. Our new Paleo lifestyle has knocked out my cravings, it's amazing…I didn't miss it at all. I feel indulged eating this way, not deprived at all! Glad we stopped in! If we ever have people visiting that aren't familiar with the North Bay, we always take them the The Marshall Store…it's always a hit.
We drove home from there to still catch some sunshine in the yard, look over the pics from the day, and give our Frenchie "Stella" some lovin'…she missed us;)
