Monday, July 10, 2017

...but there were no bears!

 We left Quincy before sunrise last Friday for a quick trip to the coast for my wife's birthday. I brought my camera, figuring we'd spend some time at the beaches and streams for experiences with nature, although we were also excited about bookstores, coffee shops, and other places we'd visited years ago.  We checked into our motel in Ft. Bragg and got excited when we saw this sign on the bathroom counter.  Bears?  It would be just like home where we have bears visit our yard nearly every night.  But, excitement turned to disappointment when we realized the PR folks at Travelodge don't now how to spell! ;)
Although we did try to cram too much adventure into a short weekend, I did manage to get some nice photos of wildflowers, birds, and socio-political goings-on that were intriguing.  We drove along the Mendocino and Sonoma County coasts and landed in San Rafael for our second night.  Some things about the coast had stayed the same, but lots of things had changed.  The main changes seemed to relate to an ever higher portion of people seeming to be type-A - driving too fast, spending lots of money, and making it harder to see the coast as a way to "get away from it all."  Then we realized we missed home.  No need to get away except as a reminder that we like where we live. To me, the most intriguing changes were in Point Arena.  [To be continued tomorrow.]

3 comments:

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  2. Joe, you may not remember this, but TraveLodge has their "Sleepy Bear" mascot. In the past they would give a free toy plush bear to any child staying in the "Sleepy Bear Den" room, which every Travelodge used to have.

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  3. Thanks for the update!! I never used TravelLodge in those days, so I didn't know that. Being an English instructor, I guess I had a hair trigger when it comes to a possible spelling error. :)

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