Sunday Drive in Sonoma County

Today for breakfast we made a version of eggs benedict with some of the leftover tenderloin on an english muffin topped with eggs, steamed spinach, tomato, hollandaise, a slice of avocado and some chives…it was pretty good!

Patti went into town to do some shopping, and Jake and Kevin and I headed out to look for a place to fly the hexacopter for some aerial footage. The longer we drove, the windier it got, and we eventually just pulled off the road near a farm and Kevin took it up for a quick flight while Jake wore the FPV goggles and "took a ride" out over the farmland. Here's where we pulled off the road:

After the short flight, we drove around a bit more and explored. It was a gorgeous day and such beautiful landscape.

We ended up at the Marin French Cheese Company for some lunch and (of course) some cheese:

Here's what we brought home:

After the cheese factory we decided to take a little detour through downtown Petaluma before heading back to camp. Did you know that Petaluma is the wrist wrestling capital of the world? Well neither did I, but it is.

The [wrist wrestling] competition started in 1953 in a Petaluma bar, and gained popularity as it was promoted by a young local reporter, Bill Soberanes, who founded an organization to keep the sport going.

The World Wrist Wrestling Championship convenes ever October in a large auditorium in town, with over 300 competitors vying for titles.

Soberanes died in 2003, but he was immortalized in 1988 as part of a statue in downtown Petaluma. On a square stone tile base is a bronze sculpture, from the elbows up, of two men in a competitive death grapple — one grimacing with right forearm veins bulging. That's Soberanes. The other figure is based on a long-reigning championship winner of the past. The figures are strangely rendered as one-armed, and the back of their heads are hollow (and sometimes filled with trash and cigarette butts).

Now you know!

This is the St. Vincent de Paul church downtown…pretty!

I thought this graffiti yard was kinda cool:

After our little tour of downtown we headed back to camp. We went for a walk around the campground and saw this great little girl riding her bike, fully decked out with all sorts of decoration (her, and her bike) because she'd just come from the "bike parade" (helmet by Hello Kitty):

Here's a shot of our campsite (us on the left, and that's Jake and Patti's trailer on the right). It's been so nice getting to visit with them this weekend. We'll have breakfast together in the morning and then they'll head South and we'll head West.

**Update: Oh yes, and the tiki torches are living up to all expectations! They charge up during the day, and flicker nicely 'til late.