Sonoma-Bodega Adventure 9: Bodega Bay

Bodega Bay is where many of the scenes in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film, The Birds were filmed.

 

The Tides Wharf Restaurant and its parking lot were used for the gas station, café and boat dock scenes, and large flocks of seagulls still gather at the south end of the wharf, where a fish processing plant’s fish remnants are thrown out to feed the birds.

 

We stayed at the Inn at the Tides, across the street from the wharf. As soon as we arrived in the area, I pulled into the wharf parking lot to take some pictures while we still had daylight, taking in the entirety of the scene.

Where, I wondered, was the Inn? It sure didn’t look as though it was connected in any way to the restaurant building. Then, inspiration! I looked across the street and there it was, on the land side of the street. What made me think it would be seaside anyway? Because of the name, of course – “At the Tides.”

Check-in was easy, we were assigned to Bungalow 9 and could park right outside of our door. That made it easy, just a short drive uphill from the front office, and there we were.

The bungalows are pretty hidden and the driveways steep but negotiable. After dark in the chilly sea air? The wife and I had our doubts about that. At any rate, we’ll deal with that when the time was right.

 

The room was nice, this time I took a picture. What was interesting was that there was no air conditioning in the room, just a heater. After fiddling with the controls and finally realizing that fact when the room got hot, I turned it off and the wife opened the corner windows, the only ones that would open.

On the little table next to the picture windows was a complimentary bottle of Salmon Creek chardonnay wine. As you know, the wife and I don’t partake, so we brought it back with us to give to my son and his wife, who also don’t drink much.

I could have brought it home, but nobody in the house drinks alcohol. At least my son or daughter-in-law can give it away to someone at work, or at a special occasion.

Now … back to going across the street to have dinner at the restaurant. We decided not to walk. It was getting cold and trudging back up the hill to the room would have been torturous. So we jumped in the car and rolled down the hill.

What did we have at the Tides Wharf? We had fish and chips. I know, I know, I should have ordered something a little fancier.

But heck, we wanted fish and chips; the wife had the regular order, I had a seafood combo. I also ordered a shrimp cocktail for the two of us, and some raw oysters for myself.

You can read a complete description of our meals in my "A Place for My Taste" blog (link in the right column), but it’s scheduled to run on Jan. 29 next year, so you’ll just have to wait on that.

We weren’t really done with the restaurant after dinner, as we went there for a complimentary breakfast the next morning. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.