Our home town of Petaluma, California is probably one of the most famous towns you've never heard of. We're known for the quirky annual "Ugliest Dog Contest" (see past winners here if you dare), the World Arm Wrestling Championship, the first official airmail flight, and we were recently featured in a McDonald's commercial.  I haven't researched the making of the commercial, but I assume we were chosen because of our bucolic backdrop and not because we won some nationwide Big Mac eating contest. Though I think if it came down to that, we could compete with the best of 'em.  

Petaluma has been the setting of quite a few movies.  Some that you may have even heard of:  American Graffiti, Peggy Sue Got Married, Cujo, Basic Instinct, Howard the Duck, Flubber, Inventing the Abbotts, and most recently, The Tree of Life with Brad Pitt. Unfortunately, I think the part of The Tree of Life film that takes place in Petaluma had many takes of the tree and zero of Brad since I didn't hear of anyone running into him at McDonald's.

We even helped Ronald Reagan get elected in 1984 with the Morning in America commercial created and narrated by advertising agency legend Hal Riney (that I would eventually go on to work for out of college).

Our sleepy river town boomed during the Gold Rush, eventually beating out other agricultural hamlets to be named the "World's Egg Basket."  (Seriously, how does one claim that title?  Is there some sort of  World Egg Association treasurer traveling the world tallying eggs?)  The town founders saw fit to pair the coven of prolific hens with massive bovine gangs to create a cholesterol-rich, artery-clogging mecca.  

There aren't quite as many chickens and cows as there used to be, but the legacy lives on through our annual "Butter & Eggs Days Festival."  This merry event features tasty food, chirpy local bands, an abundance of microbrews (we have three within walking distance of each other), farm animals, and arts & crafts. But the real draw is the 2+ hour parade (or more likely the beer garden where you can pretend you're watching the parade.) It's been said that the festival is attended by an estimated 40,000 people.  Given that our population is about 55,000 (not counting the chicken or cows) -- either most everyone was at the festival or in the parade. 

There were plenty of conventional parade participants including marching bands, classic cars, local politicians, and coronated princesses.

But the parade also featured a cornucopia of Petaluma-centric contributions such as an authentic American Graffiti police car, spandexed car hop waitresses on roller skates, a steel rhino that featured a live band, and the spirited Lagunitas Beer flatbed truck outfitted with couches that I assume were reserved for really drunk people accumulated along the route.  

We had a moment of zen while envisioning world peace with Ghandi, and even cheered on a couple who apparently were married by a city councilman at the end of the parade.  (I'd like to think that they met in the staging area and got engaged around the fourth block of the parade route.)

If you're ever in the area, stop by. I'll give you a tour of everything that makes Petaluma special.  Or you can help me work on my float for next year's parade.  It's going to be a moving beer garden where we're watching all the parade spectators watching us.  

This is a freshly edited "Throwback Tuesday" post from last March and a Happy Happy Birthday wish to my wonderful husband.  Last year, we decided to celebrate my husband’s birthday by visiting one of our favorite places on the California coast.  Maybe even the planet:  Mendocino.

I know I’m lucky.  We live in a beautiful city, within a beautiful state.  We are a 45 minute drive along bucolic roads to some of the most photographed views of the ocean (and where Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed.  So much better claim to fame than "Psycho" don't you think?)  

We can drive four hours east and find ourselves at the world-famous Sierra Mountains, home of a ski resort called Heavenly. (The past several years there hasn't been much snow, so the "ski" part of the resort's name is rather optimistic unless you're THIS guy.)  

Mendocino Village is about a three hour drive northwest.  There are two incredibly scenic ways to get there from Petaluma.  A favorite is to go straight out to the coast and soak in the rugged coastline with as many crashing waves, gorgeous rock formations, stunning seaside homes and beaches as we can fit into our cold little hearts.  However, the “price” of this route includes a convergence of tourists in large RVs and convertibles, as well as impatient motorcycles all vying for the same narrow hairpin turns.  (Literally, hundreds of miles of turns…and ocean views).

The other route is to jet up the freeway for about an hour before heading west through serene redwood forests, vineyards and farms and then up the coast where the Navarro River meets the Pacific.  For most people, the word “freeway” would immediately sway the decision, but just like everything else in Northern California, even our freeways are special.  Well, at least some of them.  This stretch of Highway 101 happens to magically balance smog, restless drivers, and concrete with happy little nuggets of nirvana among rolling hills covered in vineyards and conversation-worthy, large-scale art sculptures..  

I may sound like I’m justifying driving up the freeway, and you’d be partially right as that is the route we opted to take for this particular trip.  We brought along our youngest (11-year-old) and our goal was maximum view and ambiance, combined with minimum car sickness (aka ambiance).

If you haven’t been lucky enough to have spent time in Mendocino, let me acquaint you with this "Northeast whaling village" conveniently located in California.  What we know as Mendocino today started as a logging community in the 1850’s.  Many of the same buildings and wooden walkways are still standing. (They're also very uneven and will trip you up without a  backwards glance.  Don't ask me how I know.)   

Even with it's very compact "downtown", there’s an abundance of small restaurants, café’s, coffee shops, bookstores, clothing stores, and wine tasting as well as specialty shops that feature handcrafted art, jewelry, chocolate, quilts and jams.  There's even a doctor with a shingle advertising "420" assessments -- no appointment required.  

We managed to eat (and eat and eat), do some wine tasting, shop, listen to some live music, read, and take several walks through the bluff trails and even trek down the challenging steps from the bluff to the beach.  A perfect weekend if you ask me.  (It’s really convenient that my husband loves one of my favorite places as much as I do).

A quick side note:  If you only make it to Mendocino once in your life, please stay at The Mendocino Hotel.  It’s historic, it’s old and creaky, it has ancient plumbing, it’s still decorated with vintage furniture, rugs, and portraits and it’s perfect.  It’s the only hotel on Main Street that has unobstructed views of the ocean.  And, if you’re a book lover like I am, you can spend most of a day curled up in their lobby near the crackling fire with views of the ocean in a wing-backed chair sipping on a glass of wine brought by a friendly server.  Yeah, it’s as amazing as it sounds.