Bodega Bay Weekend

Posted by Karen on 24-Dec-2009

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I had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas weekend at Bodega Bay with Tersha and Vic. They invited me the spend it with them at the beach in their trailer and I’ve decided that is a great way to camp! Christmas Eve, we arrived at the Bodega Bay RV Park and set up house for the weekend. Next door to the RV park is the Bell Memorial, which commemorates the generosity Nicholas Green‘s family for donating his organs in Italy during an untimely tragedy.  In 1994, while vacationing in Italy, Nicholas was shot and killed by highway robbers. His family donated his organs to seven Italian recipients and it helped spur the virtually non-existent organ donation program in Italy and is known as the Nicholas Effect. The memorial contains bells from all over Italy and one large bell which was blessed by the Pope. Donna, a coworker from EDS, and her husband Gary, arrived at the RV park and parked next door, so more friends to visit with. Christmas morning, we walked a couple miles through Sonoma Coast State Park to the beach and enjoyed the solitude of a beach shared only with birds (and one state ranger). After a nice day spent relaxing and talking and getting to know the other RVers, we drove to one of the many lookout spots and enjoyed the sunset over the ocean. On Boxing Day, we took a ride over to the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve for Tersha’s big tree fix. After a few stops at beaches, we turned inland and followed the Russian River to the tall trees near Guerneville. Walking through old growth forest is always relaxing and peaceful, even if you’re being slightly rained upon. After a nice dinner at the Sandpiper Restaurant, it sure was nice to have a dry and warm trailer to retire to! Can you tell how much I liked camping in a trailer? After packing up Sunday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at the Tides Wharf Restaurant and then headed back home.

Bodega Bay – Sandcastles and Kites

Posted by Karen on 24-Apr-2009

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A while back, I’d heard about the Castles & Kites Celebration in Bodega Bay, so I booked a campsite on the beach at Doran Regional Park for this weekend.  I invited Tersha and Vic and they came up with Brianna and their new tent trailer, which was really great because it was so windy I don’t think my tent would have stood upright.  Friday night was spent cozily out of the wind inside the trailer playing cards and hanging out.  Early Saturday morning I took a walk along the beach and enjoyed photographing some sand textures.  On the harbor side I met some guys digging for clams and they showed me how to spot where the clams were buried–look for a little hole and them stomp and watch for the water to spurt out; very neat.  We then all headed back down the beach to watch people fly kites and build sandcastles.  We set up our chairs near the roped off area used by the pros and watched them launch some huge kites.  Another gentleman we met had plenty of kites and explained the difference between sport kites and beer kites to us.  Sport kites require constant handling, while beer kites just need to be launched and then you have a beer while it flies.. LOL!  We took a little drive over to the other side of the bay, but it was really too windy to enjoy much time outside, so back to the calm of the trailer for dinner and some relaxation. Sunday was an enjoyable drive home along Highway 1.

GPS Stats: • Odometer: 3.80 miles • Total Time: 6:04 • Moving Time: 1:41 • Moving Average: 2.2 mph • Overall Average: 0.6 mph