Landmark

The old fishing trawler has been something of a landmark at Nick's Cove. It's been a few years since we've been there and it is definitely listing rapidly to starboard. I love the way the people who run this place have succeeded in creating a destination resort without sacrificing the funky aspects. It began life in the 1930's when a man named Nick and his wife  purchased  a parcel of the old Jeremiah Blake ranch and moved several buildings and other structures from their Pierce Ranch property on the West side of Tomales Bay by barge. One of them was an old herring curing facility . Set up on pilings over the water and renovated, it became a seafood shack selling shrimp and crab cocktails.

Over the years and several owners the unique character of this destination has been preserved. The restaurant specializes in fresh seafood. The cottages have all been refurbished with three star hotel comfort and antique furnishings. It's a wonderful place to get away from it all.

Our breakfast was delivered this morning by a young man carrying a heavy tray with one hand. The last place we saw this was many years ago at Jasper Park Lodge in the Canadian Rockies where the young men carrying  the trays in similar fashion were also riding bicycles!

The four of us decided over dinner last night that this was going to become an annual event. Mark took the picture of the three of us as we were about to tuck into our soft serve ice cream sundae in a fish shaped glass bowl. I put that shot in extras.

We said our farewells this morning to each other and this special place and drove through rolling fields of cattle and dairy farms to Petaluma where we stopped by the Cottage Gardens Nursery to pick up some society garlic plants to finish planting the space John started a couple of weeks ago. We mentioned to the woman there that our dog was in the car, a conversation ensued and we wound up bringing him in to meet her. Soon several other women emerged from various places to make quite a fuss over him. He was quite a hit and got a lot of treats....

Back to the normal routine tomorrow, but resolved to take Spike back to Dillon Beach soon.