Sonoma. It might be my favorite place yet. Seriously. It is absolutely gorgeous, chill and the locals are really, really friendly. We started off last week going to Sonoma Collective, a church that is following along Practicing the Way and their formation practices. We entered the Hanna center where church is set up, (The Hanna center is a school of sorts for kids who have been kicked out of every other education option as well as a place for young people who have timed out of foster care. It has dormitories, gymnasium, vocational education as well as college prep…all on a stunning campus.) where we met Carissa the pastor’s wife. She spent 15 minutes introducing us to the church and other congregants. We grabbed some coffee and headed into the meeting space where we were met with lots of round tables set up for eating. Turns out they were celebrating their 2 year anniversary and had a family come and serve some killer tacos after service. The worship was Miso, a doctor from Mexico, playing the grand piano, the Young Life staff person keeping the beat on a box drum and Meredith singing harmony with Miso. Amazing. Jason the pastor spoke well about where the church had come from and where it was going.
We were at church for 4 hours. Eating, talking, hanging out with kids. It was really good and life giving.
The next day grabbed a quick workout and then picked up my cousin Eric and headed out to Bodega bay for legendary crab sandwiches. What a beautiful drive on a sunny day. If you’ve never been in Sonoma County, it is shockingly full of agriculture. Of course there is wine, but there are also apples, pears, cows, sheep, horses…with rolling hills scattered with Live oak trees, Doug fir and of course the Redwood trees.
Tuesday we got a double treat of our neighbors from Liberty Lake, the Emmels, coming to stay a couple of nights with us. We also met friends from Valley Real Life who happened to be in town Tuesday night for dinner and The Girl and the Fig. It was fun to enjoy a delicious dinner together.
Wednesday we started the morning pretty early by joining Sonoma Collective for prayer at 6 am. It was really good to join with others to pray for people, the city and for the love of God to be expressed throughout the region. Later in the day Balin had to work so I took the Emmels to Glen Ellen for coffee, the Bartholomew estate for hiking and then home for a much needed nap. It was 85 degrees out and we were all tired from the adventure. That night we all went down to Sonoma square and watched a documentary called “Las Abogadas” about 3 women lawyers on the front lines of immigration in Mexico. It was pretty good and encouraged a lively conversation about immigration. I will say that the theatre was full of 50-70 year olds - I definitely didn’t stick out. Interestingly enough, the area we’re staying in here is very diverse, with a large Latin population. We hear Spanish everywhere - who knows maybe I’ll actually get to use my Spanish if we move here. We finished off our evening with an hour of card playing with the Emmels, which I really love. I would love to play more cards with people…
Thursday the Emmels headed to Seattle and Balin and I met my cousin Eric and his wife Maggie at Rombauer. Not sure it’s a good sign to be recognized by the staff, but it was sure nice to be there again. We scooted from there back to Sonoma for dinner and chatting with a small group from Sonoma Collective.
Friday, being date day, we headed out to Healdsburg for a breathtaking ride through the Dry Creek Valley. Picture quiet rolling roads through small farms and vineyards. The temp was perfect at 75 and riding my Specialized Creo brought so much joy. One thing is for sure, Balin has a lot of strength and without a little help there is no way we could ride bikes together. We completed 20 miles and headed to the Ridge winery for a tasting and snacks. It was the first straw bale wine making facility in the area - which was pretty cool.
Saturday I headed out to breakfast for a couple of hours with a woman from church, which was really lovely to get to know her better and share what we’ve got going on. After Balin was complaining that his back was not doing well so we skipped anything that might strain it and headed to the Botanical Gardens instead. I haven’t seen gardens quite like these - I would say they are organized but a little on the wild side, which I actually liked. There were so many old friends of mine (plants that is) that I hadn’t seen in so long. It’s amazing how I can still remember Latin names of many plants even though I haven’t seen them since we lived in the Seattle area. We enjoyed walking around the gardens and finding a picnic table where Balin read and I painted.
Sunday had to be one of my favorite days though. (I really like Sundays). Before heading to church we went out to the dog park at the regional park. Piper met 5 or 6 dogs while we met several pet owners. It continues to surprise me how friendly everyone is here. One fellow gave us the inside scoop of a locals favorite restaurant - The Red Grape. We headed there directly after church and it did not disappoint. After getting home from church, we took deliciously long naps and then headed back to the regional park and took an hour long walk. It was gorgeous - there’s a reason it’s called the golden hour.
Today we headed back out, this time through Santa Rosa to Occidental, where the Redwoods grow. We only did 15 miles but it was definitely more up and down than normal. We treated ourselves to a quick stop at Costco and then headed to the famous Russian River Brewery where Balin had his favorite IPA Pliny the Elder.
One of the things I’m really, really enjoying about this trip is we’re getting out all the time. We go for bike rides, hikes, walks in neighborhoods, drinks at local bars. It’s really fun. Tomorrow we’re heading out again to ride along the Russian River out of Healdsburg. Woohoo!
Update on Sam:
He called a couple of weeks ago and said they had flown from Bali to Italy but were finding Europe really expensive. He asked if we had any suggestions of where they should go that might be cheaper. Balin and I both said - Morocco.
A week later I was chatting with Sam and asked him where he was; “Morocco mom”. You might recall we went to Israel with our friend Dan Barnett last year - he’s in charge of Young life in North Africa and the Middle East and had lived in Morocco with his family for 5 years. I suggested that Sam might want to give him a call and see if he had any suggestions of where to go. Turns out Dan was in Morocco and 30 minutes from where Sam and the boys were surfing. They met up the next day and it looks like the boys joined Dan in what he was doing in Morocco- which sounded like a blast. From the pictures I got it looks like they were at Young Life club and playing basketball with the locals. It’s tough to get updated info from the boys, but I think they’re having the time of their life. They’re there another couple of weeks before Sam Shurter and Caleb head home and Strickler heads to Mexico and then San Diego to meet us for Thanksgiving. From what I can tell, Strickler got the Weatbrook gene for adventure.
Comments