Day 18 - San Francisco/Napa, CA

The sun had not been up long when we gathered to wait for the bus, which took us to the "Warm Puppy Cafe" in Santa Rosa for breakfast.  

The cafe, along with the attached ice skating rink, is the "home ice" of Snoopy - Charles Schulz' famous dog cartoon character in the Peanuts comic strip. Schulz owned the ice rink and restaurant which opened in 1969. The manager claims that Schulz used to come there every morning for breakfast and have an English muffin with jelly.

After a wonderful buffet breakfast we walked across the street to the Charles M. Schulz Museum.  Anyone who has ever read the Peanuts comic strips or seen "Charlie Brown's Christmas" could really relate to this museum.  In fact, Lucy (Lula) was giving Psychiatric Help to Charlie (Gerald).












The museum had many great displays of the comic strip's characters from the early days to when Schulz died in 2000.  

Our guide, Ray, was very knowledgeable and obviously fond of the artist.  

He even showed us the actual wall from Schulz' daughter's nursery that was discovered in their Colorado Springs home much later, under several layers of paint. You can easily recognize Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty in their early pre-"Peanuts" stage.

Some relaxed a bit, got to go into the education room, where Joe played with the toys and Spence drew a picture that he added to the rest of the children's art on the wall.

We left there smiling.

Our next stop was the Canine Companions for Independence facility.  This is where dogs are trained to assist people with disabilities.  "Imagine a dog that could flip a light switch, pick up dropped keys or open a door."  We were given a tour and got to see the dogs in action.

We learned that in each litter, the pups are all give a name that starts with the same letter.  

As much as we would have loved to stay, lunch was calling.  We drove through Bodega and into Bodega Bay, where Alfred Hitchcock filmed the movie, "The Birds" circa 1963.  Lunch was on our own at The Tides Wharf Restaurant (or snack bar).  

Once lunch was done, we drove onward to tour the Korbel Champagne Cellars.  After escaping from Czechoslovakia in the mid 1800's the three Korbel brothers came to America.  By 1882 they began making wine.  By the mid 1890's they had begun to make their world famous champagne.  

                           
                                   





We were given a tour of the facility by a knowledgeable tour guide.  She took us into the original building where the champagne was produced.  

Afterward, we were taken to the tasting room, where we got to sample as many of the different varieties of champagne that they make.  












Good thing we were on a bus and had a designated driver!




Back to the RV park in Santa Rosa to rest after our busy, busy day,

We did notice, however, that some people were doing exactly as they were told and stopped to smell the roses along the way.












Submitted by:  Spence and Madi Schaaf #2