Red Chuck

Healdsburg

Another action packed adventure filled day. We drove up from Monterey to San Francisco, hitting the foggy city around 12. An easy 2 hour drive. No problems. The minute we got off the 101, Helen started screaming. So we spent 30 minutes winding through the city with a crying 3 year old as our soundtrack. All our troubles vanished when we discovered that the Greens Restaurant now has a take out counter. All praise the veggie gods. We sat at a picnic table at Fort Mason Center and devoured delicious tapinade and arugula sandwichs and sipped moroccan bean soup. (The child who will only eat french fries nibbled a croissant). After that it was an easy drive to the Exploratorium. Man, what a great place. So many different things to explore. Harrison really got into the biology exhibits. We spent a lot of time looking through microscopes at potato skin cells. Thankfully he wasn't intereted in the cow eye dissection. He also liked dancing in front of 3 color projection wall. Overall I was impressed with the museum's mixture of science and art. A great deal of the mechanical exhibits are credited to sculptors. Their creations are as structurally inventive as they are educational.

At 3pm we hit the 101 North to the Golden Gate bridge and an hour and a half later found ourselves in Healdsburg. What an amiable town. With Finch Mountain in the distance you get the feeling that you are in some thawed alpine community that is nothing but friendly. We walked to the town square for a picnic supper. A swing band was playing in the bandstand and the park was packed. It looked as if the whole town was present. We drank red wine and ate ham sandwiches while Harrison and Helen danced and played. I mean, what the hell? Have you ever been to Northern California? Is this the norm? Perfect weather, good food, people drinking great wine downtown on a Tuesday night. What's not to love.