Fremont Diner and Ramal Rd. - July 16, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.0 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 3:16 - 4:46 (1 hr., 30 min.)
Start and End Point: Unpaved shoulder, Ramal Rd., Sonoma/Napa, CA

The first stop today was the Fremont Diner (on Fremont Drive in Sonoma, and shown at right), where I had lunch. This diner is located on the Bay Trail, and made a great meal stop. The only possible hitch, for afternoon walkers is that the Diner closes at 3:00 p.m. most of the time. But, if you arrive earlier for breakfast or lunch, you're in for some great roadhouse food and a fun, casual atmosphere.

After I ate fish, salad, homemade potato chips and potato salad (shown at right), and bought a vanilla creme soda to go, I drove south, down Ramal Road, toward Skaggs Island Road. I walked South and West along Ramal Rd., near Buena Vista vineyards. It was hot, and I appreciated the shade offered from occasional groups of large eucalyptus trees. A pair of red-tailed hawks in one of these trees did not appreciate me walking so closely to their perch, and I was treated to the red-tailed hawk cry/screech -- the same one we've all heard in so many movies and television shows (that is used for off-screen eagles and hawks, and to represent wide open spaces).


Wildlife Sightings:
1 horse; 33 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 lizard; 7 butterflies; 4 hawks; 3 mockingbirds; 2 swallows; 4 killdeer; 2 flies; 5 ladybugs on white flowers and 2 wasps on white flowers;  and 1 screw.