Sonoma County Regional Parks: Maxwell Farms (Boyes Hot Springs)

The reason Brix is also known as Big Baby is because, when he stands one foot off the ground, he freaks out when I say, Hold That Pose! You can't see it, but there is a large group picnic area to the right of this stone construction.

Other than that, he was a great companion in Maxwell Farms Regional Park this afternoon. We were only there about 40 minutes, part of my park monitoring duties that I have nearly forgotten, and it was great to be back. The crows were screeching, children were happily playing with their parents in the playground and the park itself appeared well-tended.

City of Sonoma: The Plaza

The 31st International SketchCrawl was held on Saturday, April 16th.  Twelve local sketchers convened at The Plaza in Sonoma to participant. Sketchers drew whatever caught their interest - the duck pond, tourists, the Mission, Carnegie Library, etc., there was no shortage of sketching material.

University of California, Davis - Arboretum

Here's a public space that's easy to overlook because it's not a park, per se, it's an arboretum. Trees and plants throughout a three-mile pathway are carefully labeled. There are hundreds of ducks, mallards mostly, swimming and playing in the water. Picnickers have their blankets spread, dog-walkers pass by, artists sit on the benches drawing and couples walk hand in hand. This is a lovely place and admission is free.