when life gives you mud.......

when life gives you mud....you just gotta make your own fun.  a few weeks ago we loaded up the car and headed down to petaluma for norcal mountain bike race #4.  we were just outside of petaluma when we got the call that the race was cancelled due to wet and muddy conditions.  bummer!  there had been much rain all week, the venue was new and the trails freshly built so they didn't want them destroyed.

many folks turned around and headed home.  we decided to stay since we were basically already there and our was hotel paid.  we never spent much time there.  the drive was beautiful.  the california poppies were in full bloom and everything was green.  

after checking in to our hotel we decided to explore on foot.  fell in love with this place.

 check out the sky and vultures on the roof.  as a young girl exploring abandoned houses was a favorite past time of mine.  i really wanted inside.  i wanted the history of this place.  i wanted to talk to the walls.

we continued our journey and low and behold look what we stumbled upon......

okay, i have to admit i knew that the brewery was about 2.5 miles straight down the road from our hotel.  and live bluegrass started around 4:30. so we were there.  and so was everyone else.  

the band was great.  love trios!  they did an awesome rendition of wagon wheel!  check out the beverage holders for the musicians.

 the proud winners of a BBQ cook off celebrated nearby.

and in honor of steinbeck's  best buddy ed ricketts, they offered stout ice cream floats.  although ed was more of a milkshake kinda dude.

on our 2.5 mile walk back to the hotel we decided to play in the biggest kmart i had ever seen.  it was downright scary.  and dead.