Camp Meeker, CA
The story goes that in 1941 my great, great Grandfather won this cabin in a bet and, since that day, generations of my family have been spending their Summers (and the occasional Winters) making their memories there.
It takes a few days to get into a sloth-like state of mind but once you push through your social media addictions the routine goes something like this: wake up as late as your kids will let you, drive into Occidental and buy two fresh peach and blackberry turnovers, from The Union Hotel cafe. Go back to the cabin. Watch two (or five) VHS tapes from the 1980's. Eat the other turnover. Connect the edge pieces to the puzzle you've done every year since childhood. Then comes the big decision of the day. Should we leave the cabin? The sea, the river, some hiking? Or just be super lazy? And for the sake of keeping decision making to a minimum we just do every activity with a measure of laziness and we get the best of both worlds.
The Sonoma coast is about 20 minutes away so we spend a lot of time there. You know you are close when the sun stops shining and you hit the great wall of fog. The sea is a place of healing for me... lungs full of salt air, fingers drawing in the sand, watching the fog change the mood of the landscape.
and because baked goods rule my world we always make a stop at the Wild Flour bakery on our way home. Jed Wallach, below, is the owner and baker of this wood fired bread bakery in Freestone. Wild Flour also has an attached garden that you can meander and eat in and it's pretty much the most magical thing ever.
more to come....