It Never Rains .....!!

According to the song and the long-standing drought conditions, rain is a rare commodity here, but we encountered some today! At first light I took a stroll down to the nearby marina on a grey, drizzly, morning (the sort that wets you right through!) On my return to our 'outback' room I took off to the Roadhouse Coffee Shop, next door. In fact, this was my second and penultimate visit of the morning. To say its a laid back place is truly an understatement! The owner 'Jim' is a Father Christmas type of guy, who wears blue nail polish, says little, and plays cool music, ranging between hard Blues and folksy Country and Western. The coffee is good and it seems popular with the locals. The place is bedecked with games, ukuleles, guitars, books and odd bric-a-brac e.g. a cricket bat! I guess that if the regulars avail themselves of everything on offer in the Roadhouse, they must be pretty clued-up! A couple of the regulars (fishermen) were discussing how warm the Ocean water is at the moment and said that they had been catching Yellow-tails?! The conversation moved on to some tourists who had been spotted trawling for Haddock with kayaks. One guy observed that because of the recent poor fishing, they would have only had a healthy paddle! Anyway, time stops for no-one and we had to pull-out and head for San Francisco. We headed South on Route 1, until we reached Bodega where we stopped-off to see the Schoolhouse and Church which featured in the film 'The Birds'.

Halfway to San Fran we stopped-off in Petaluma, a neat and sizable town, which now boasts lots of antique shops and eating places. It would certainly make a good overnight stop-off for anyone in the area.

We eventually arrived in Corte Madera and docked in the Best Western around midday. Fortunately, the desk staff allowed us to check-in early! To our relief, we have a nice room and internet!! I asked what there is to do around here on arainy day and was told 'Eat'! Fortunately we spotted a cinema nearby, so we headed to see 'A walk in the woods', instead! I guess today's music choice is an obvious one: 'It never rains in Southern California'! (and I hope that's borne out!)