View from Cafe Aquatica in Jenner

The Sonoma coast is a beautiful place to visit any time of year even with its unpredictable weather of driving rain in the winter and wind-whipped fog in the summer. Today, as I drove up Highway One, it was cloudy but at least the wind was calm, a good-enough day for a sketch outing.

When I pulled into the tiny town of Jenner, I stopped at a small snack shop in search of a bag of nuts to hold me over till lunch. That’s when I noticed Cafe Aquatica across the street bustling with customers and with an acoustic guitarist strumming away on a bench. I walked over and checked out the menu posted beside the entrance. Lavish descriptions of soups, sandwiches, coffees, and teas, made my bag of nuts seem just like, well, peanuts.

I walked through the busy cafe looking for a good place to sit and found an outdoor patio with a terrific view of the bay. After sitting myself down, the view was so good, I completely forgot my hunger and pulled out some watercolors to sketch. A salty ocean breeze kept me cool as the sun started to break up the morning fog and warm my skin. Even though I was sketching alone today, I felt in good company overhearing the conversations of diners who were traveling along Highway One, discovering the California coast for the first time.