Barley and Hops Tavern Road Trip to Occidental

     As the world turned and we had decided to succumb to the call of the wild, on a Saturday afternoon, while Joyce was finishing off the canning of some Blackberry Jam, we called the Barley and Hops Tavern in Occidental and informed Cheryl we were on our way, and she could hold a table for us.

       Before the road trip began, we circled the wagons, and finished off some last minute fiscal policy at our local Credit Union, and made the scheduled mad dash over the Sonoma County back

roads to Occidental.
              Along the way, our lungs were filled with fresh air from the noticeable autumn breezes flowing thru the trees, and watched the leaves billowing slowly to the surface of the blacktop, and being blown from side to side as we ran over their prescence.

      Though my spouse Joyce was a born and raised Sonoma County resident, on the way, she admitted to having no visual memory of our route, so Mapquest Steven came to her rescue, barking out

a wee bit too swiftly, following with a one step, one turn, one little nuance of road memory whistling dixie at each enthralling and tempting tidbit of data strewn itself out over the constantly

changing landscapes.  As we arrived in Occidental, things for Joyce all of a sudden became perfectly clear.  There before us memories flooded out about back in the late eighties with Jack Larson

and Tom Sharkey made whimsy of maybe taking this same facade of a building into the future with their own concepts of culinary imaginings. Ah well, as we  thensettled inn and ordered up a

nice Burger with carmelized onions, engulfed in an Onion Roll with homemade pickles and a side of Apple Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Cheese Fries, along with a luscious Bacon, Lettuce and Roasted

Tomato sandwich, with a side of lighted battered Onion Rings, which I got another side of Lemon Aioli to dip them in.
             A nonchalant and perky and delightful waitress, and a great view out the windows by our table and an incredible offshore breeze flowing rapidly thru out the 

room caressing not only our brows, but also our curvaceous and satiated souls. This could happen only with Occidental facing westward, toward Bodega Bay.

        On the way out of Occidental, we took
Graton road, to Green Valley Road and turned back onto Occidental Road, passing all the while signposts like the Graton Fire Department, the Cajun Festival Sign, one of my favorite architectural designs, the Horse Dressage Rink going toward third street,

and finally the two Sequoia Sempirvirens  that frame in the sign at the Big Oak Shopping Center on Fulton Road and Third Street.
           All and all a dynamic seasonal excursion over to Occidental for some visual culinary profiling and a somewhat subdued Bay Area Backroad trip across town.

          This is your Steven,the ambassador of Married Date Day, wishing you all the usual Culinary Delights along the Routes of Sonoma County and lots of visually stunning landscapes along the way over and on the way back to home sweet home, to justify the road trip and the experience itself...Child