Visiting Bodega Bay

backroadblues:

Dateline: 6 April 2017 So Elisa, Bella, Oreo (our 2 dogs) and I decided to take our Legacy motorhome out for a test run to a nearby spot.  We chose Bodega Bay, which lies on the coat of Sonoma County, just north of San Francisco.  When you look at a map, you can imagine that the San Andreas fault line runs straight up the San Francisco Bay and extends through Marin County into the narrow inlet called Tomales Bay.  At the end of Tomales Bay lies the little town of Bodega Bay. Although Bodega Bay was discovered by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra in 1775 it really didn’t show up on the map until 1963 when Hollywood descended on this sleepy little fishing village.  If you’ve seen the classic horror thriller “The Birds” by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, then you’ve visited Bodega Bay. I had assumed that the towns namesake would have stemmed from being a trading village – since Bodega in Spanish means little store.  Well little did I know that it owes its name to its Spanish/Peruvian discovery way back in the 1770′s.  However, it wouldn’t really be settled until the early 1800′s when Russian fur trappers built some of the areas earliest structures.  Over time, the little village of Bodega Bay would sort of end up living up to its “Bodega” namesake, when settlers built warehouses and storehouses to serve as a distribution hub along the Pacific coast to ship goods ranging from fur pelts to fruits, vegetables and dairy goods up and down the coast and into the quickly growing city of San Francisco. Today, the warehouses are long gone but the fishing boats remain.  It is still a popular spot for commercial crabbers and fishermen.  It is also a haven for sea birds and sea mammals. Today we had lunch at Tides Inn and Restaurant.  The original Tides was featured prominently in “The Birds”.  However, the restaurant seen in the film was lost in a fire in 1968 and it has since been rebuilt.  I’m pleased to say that the food was delicious.  We are here at the peak of the Crab season.  So, Elisa had the crab cakes made with fresh Dungeness crab and I had the crab Mac-and-cheese.  The food was great and our server Carey was very friendly.  She let us know we were her favorite customers today since we ordered her 2 favorite things on the menu. This weekend in the Fishermen’s Festival, but unfortunately, it is raining again.  They tell us it should let up on Sunday. More later. Rex