Valley of the Moon, Sonoma

We came up to Sonoma to get away from the Bay area and home. I will be starting work in Jan 2019, after a hiatus of 1 year. I fell sick Dec 2017 and was cleared to go to work, Dec 2018. I will be able to go back to work with accommodations. I am glad to start and take my body for a test drive. We decided to celebrate by going to spend a few days in Sonoma.

I wanted to be able to walk to the Plaza and so we stayed a block from the Plaza. The City Hall is at the center, surrounded by a park for kids and walking paths for all. Surrounding the square are eateries and shops.

The first night we ordered food to go from “Delhi Belly”, with love “Dillee Billee” meaning Delhi Cat {Delhi is the capital of India, Billee is cat in Hindi, the national language of India}.

The following morning after a continental breakfast at the Inn, we went to the Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen.

The museum is a must visit. We went there for hiking and ended up meeting a fascinating, adventurous man and his equally courageous second wife. I wondered aloud why is it called Valley of the Moon? I did not get an answer and so I checked and here is what I found. I plan to go back in summer for the Broadway under the Stars performance for 2019.

There is a short hike to the home of Jack London and his wife, Charmaine London. It is called the Wolf house, or “House of Happy Walls” by J.L. and lays in ruins 0.6 miles away. Their grave is on the same path.

Jack London was many things. A San Francisco native, who was a prolific writer, a journalist, and a socialist. Some of his widely popular books “A Call of the Wild“, “White Fang“, and “The Sea Wolf“.

The hike ended with sandwiches from the Village Market followed by a nap. That evening, we walked around Sonoma Plaza Square, looked at the beautifully lit City Hall, ate at the “Maya”. The food was delicious. DD ate as well as we did. At night, we watched “The Good Dinosaur”, all cozy and tucked into our King bed.

DD had one request before falling asleep, “I want to sit on a ferris wheel”. So we ended up going to the Sonoma Train Town. A lovely place for little kids with train ride that includes a stop at the petting zoo that has alpacas, a ferris wheel, a small roller coaster and such.

Lunch was at Mary’s Pizza shack. I had the best Pesto breadsticks with Sautéed vegetables in marinara sauce. A must eat spot on the Plaza.

We explored a few of the shops. We walked into the Global Heart Fair Trade shop and bought a few sheep. The Alpaca outside got us into the shop. They had the Tibetan singing bowls, and the lady in the shop demonstrated how to use it and the bowl made the most amazing sounds. Later, we went to get some ice cream from the “Sweet Scoops” ice cream shop in the Plaza.

We came to our room, rested and then stepped out for dinner. We walked over to “Dillee Billee“. I had the avocado chaat. DD had the Panchratna dal, DH, the kadhai mushroom curry with brown rice. All the food was simply delicious. The decor was fabulous. The food was as good as the food from Amber in the Bay area.

The evening ended with us watching “Management” starring Jennifer Aniston. An impossible movie! DH keeps adding, that is why it is a movie. Something that struck me was when the male lead told J.A. “Many people live their lives by hiding behind their pet causes.”

The Williams Sonoma store in Sonoma is the parent store. I went to check it out. We have a tradition of going to shop in it annually. The shop is quaint, different from the one in South Bay. It has a home section! The dingier in the home section, such a pleasant lady.

From the shop, we walked over to the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art: a small space compared to all the other museums I have been to, and a big heart and even bigger wisdom. The curator had the most appropriate arrangement of all the pieces of art and the notes hanging next to the art, brought out the magic of the art work. They had 2 exhibits, one to celebrate their 20 years of inspiring the community and being inspired by it, “20 Sonoma Collectors”. The other exhibit was about the fires that engulfed the area in 2017, “From Fire, Love Rises”. My DD had most fun typing on the old time typewriter.

And so ends, our trip as well as the year. I can’t believe my journey. I was treated for an acute neurological condition a year ago, could hardly move, breathe, talk or eat, to apron who is now able to think, talk and walk, albeit much slower…

I like to think now: Slow is sweet…A sweet start to my new year…