July 2012
Day 1 (Saturday)
After spending the morning grocery shopping in Sebastopol (which enabled Margie to become profoundly familiar with the town, see Day 3 below), it was back to the house to await the arrival of the various groups of Thongs, the groupings having been well-coordinated by Gladys in accordance with arrival times in San Francisco. Betty, Charlotte, and Tina had made a pre-reunion trip to Yosemite and arrived last. Gladys took charge of attempting to organize the sleeping arrangements, but flexibility among the Thongs won the day, including seven sharing a bathroom, and various other devices, such as the barrier Suzanne built in the bed before Betty could sleep with her.
Linda and Margie organized dinner which we enjoyed around the big dining table. This was the occasion for the distribution of souvenirs – little canvas bags with a thong appliqué from Betty, portable fans (sooo useful for many of us) and a thong multi-purpose thingy (key ring or Christmas tree ornament) from Suzanne, and herbes de Provence (which a few assumed was “weed”) from Margie. In fact, TSA must have assumed the same since Linda’s was confiscated at some point on her trip home. Dixie, recipient of last year’s annual thong award, presented the 2012 award to Beverly, in recognition of inter alia a bad blow job. [Note: the award presentation was on another night, according to Beverly.]
Day 2 (Sunday)
The day began, as did the subsequent ones, with Gladys and Betty poring over maps and tourist information to set our objectives for the day. Faye was nearby with her iPad semi-permanently attached to her person, offering additional input. First destination was Healdsburg, with a stop en route at a winery in the Russian River area with a pretty garden where we took pictures. Once in Healdsburg, we managed to agree on a place for lunch, and explored the town square and surrounding shops. Most went back to Bodega Bay after lunch to walk the beach. Betty, Charlotte, Margie, and Suzanne drove further into the Russian River valley, stopping at a winery where they had a very expensive (small) glass of wine and enjoyed the pretty view. They then headed on to Occidental to pick up the Mountain Valley Road, a gorgeous narrow road which took us past ranches, over rolling hills (with cows) and finally ocean. Back home in Bodega Bay, we had dinner at the local golf club.
Day 3 (Monday)
We started with a visit to the Benziger family winery, where we went on a tour through the vineyards on a little train, followed by wine tasting, while Gladys, Tina and Linda visited with Gladys’s friend Lucia. Everybody then headed to Santa Rosa to return Linda’s rental car. This was interesting, since Betty’s car wasn’t able to follow Faye when she shot off in one direction on an overpass as we entered Santa Rosa. However, through the miracle of mobile phone technology, and Barbara’s excellent idea to stop and ask directions, we managed to reconnect, while at the same time seeing quite a bit of Santa Rosa. Next on the agenda was Sonoma, for lunch in the courtyard at the Girl and the Fig (country food with a French passion) followed by shopping. Gladys then guided us to a place where we could taste (and buy) olive oils. After that, most went straight back to Bodega Bay, while Betty, with Charlotte as navigator, and Margie and Suzanne as passengers set off for Sebastopol, with a mission to buy ice cream for dessert that evening. Arriving in “Sebastopol”, we pretty much drove around in circles, with Charlotte inquiring from time to time, “Margie does any of this look familiar?” (since Margie was the big expert on Sebastopol). She had to admit, nothing much looked familiar (in the Sebastopol sense, that is). However, certain things did seem oddly familiar – College Road, for example – enough to cause her to ask, several times, “Are you sure we are in Sebastopol?” Finally, there it was, in front of us, the enormous Santa Rosa Plaza. You guessed it, we were not in Sebastopol. Once we had established where we were, the rest was easy. On return to Bodega Bay, with our melting ice cream, we found Dixie and Faye in the hot tub, with beer of course! Suzanne fixed fried chicken for dinner and we laughed and laughed about our adventures.
Day 4 (Tuesday)
This was the day to explore some nature. We headed out for Point Reyes Station, where Betty and Charlotte procured lunch and then set off for a hike in the Point Reyes National Seashore. The rest of us puttered around the town, exploring the shops (some discovering slightly obscene postcards), followed by lunch in the courtyard at the Station House Café. After re-grouping, some headed out to explore more of the area. Tina made salmon for dinner
Day 5 (Wednesday)
Betty left, to visit family. The rest of us went to the nearby town of Occidental, where we had fun cruising the shops and having lunch on the porch at the Howard Station Café. Once back in Bodega Bay, we headed off for dinner at a local “shack”, where some of us had very interesting local fried oysters, with a “fish and chips” style breading – not like Louisiana.
Day 6 (Thursday)
This was departure day – and early departure, at that, since most had mid-day flights from San Francisco. Dixie, the mathematician, had done the accounts and everybody had pitched in to clean up the night before, so the packing and leaving, and bathroom sharing went smoothly. All arrived home safely.
It was a great reunion. This was an area of the country unfamiliar to most of us. Tina loved the “country-ness” of the narrow curving roads overhung with oleander, big huge clumps of lavender, and all sorts of cascading flowers she couldn’t identify. The air was so redolent of eucalyptus that she wanted to fill her lungs with each breath and swim in it. She declared she wanted to run home and plant eucalyptus trees so she could have that clean, bright air perpetually (though not sure the Tennessee climate would cooperate). We had some good laughs and despite much rehashing of the details of “the money caper” have been unable to establish whether it was in senior year or junior year. Additional entertainment was provided by colorful neighbors (modern-day hippies and bikers) which seemed to change daily. The house was wrapped in fog, morning and evening, which provided cool serenity and isolation as if we were on some spare, lovely planet all on our own. The occasional golf cart which emerged and passed by our windows reminded us of moon-rovers.
