On the second day of an overnight journey to Petaluma at the top of the north San Francisco Bay Area, the Best Western Motel helped start our day with a waffle breakfast, good coffee and OJ.
Wandering through the older part of downtown Petaluma the night before offered us a colorful and rich blend of the city that did not have the overtourism feel to it. Live music emanated from The Big Easy off the edge of Putnam Plaza, as diners packed one restaurant after another. That included the popular Cucina Paradiso, where five cooks in tall chef hats buzzed around their tiny kitchen. Aglow in the center of it all was the Mystic Theatre, built in 1911, originally for live vaudeville entertainment and still serving as a major music venue.
One welcome treat that evening was the live music wafting from the front of the Usher Gallery, where an art opening was unfolding. Singer Sophia Rayne, with recorded accompaniment, dazzled a small crowd on the sidewalk with her silky, smooth voice, as patrons mingled about the various artworks, jewelry and crafts indoors.
On the morning of July 27, we checked out of the motel and drove south on Lakeville Highway to the Santa Venetia Marsh Reserve for a nature walk with views of the area’s bird life. Right away we spotted a cluster of black-necked stilts working the shoreline of the waterway from a winding level trail that threaded through a quiet, open marsh with views of the upper San Pablo Bay.
Next, we drove north on Highway 101 to the little town of Cotati, where we saw a performance of “Disruption; A Musical Farce” by the San Francisco Mime Troupe in the open-air setting of La Plaza Park. The Mime Troupe has been delivering live theater for 65 years and typically tackles current political issues. The crowd of over 200 people (mostly seniors), spread out across the shady lawn, seemed to relish the show that took on immigration, social funding cuts, racism, income disparity and more.
Following the show, our journey south toward home started along Highway 1 to the the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, a heavily used toll bridge that spans a narrow passage of the San Francisco Bay, connecting Contra Costa County and Marin County.
In the final part of this story, a wrap up and a stop at one of our favorite San Jose eateries, the Falafels Drive-In that’s been around since 1966.
