Local Color

I brought out my camera on a recent walk we took along the Prince Memorial Greenway, a biking and walking path which runs along a stretch of Santa Rosa Creek connecting Downtown to Historic Railroad Square.

In recent years, massive creek restoration efforts along the greenway, in conjunction with work by the non-profit organization ArtStart, have transformed this once super sketchy stretch of polluted creek, peppered with trash and used mainly for drug partaking and homeless encampments, into a far less sketchy place for a lovely stroll.

It does run under the freeway and several bridges though, so it's still a little sketchy, but it really is so lovely compared to what it once was.

The murals on the large cement walls that hold up the above-running streets are my favorite. I love how the big fish appears to be jumping through the concrete back into the actual creek where depleted native steelhead once thrived. I also liked how nicely he matched the flowers on my recently thrifted cardigan ;)



The ArtStart program provides apprenticeships to local young artists. Their work has given our community some truly beautiful installations to gaze upon. The pieces are often inspired by the history of our local landscapes too, which I think makes them even more special.

In addition to the murals, there’s also a long California poppy-themed mosaic wall, as well as, the fun painted benches which can also be found scattered about the downtown area.

As we approached the stretch that sits directly under the 101, Lucas pointed out the crowd of men gathered down by the creek up ahead. Due to previously mentioned sketch-factor, we continued our approach cautiously.

Not to worry though, just a bunch of grown men having a remote control 4-wheeler competition… Haha! Definitely not something we were expecting to run into on our quiet little outing!


They all seemed to be taking it very seriously though, with a crazy course set up, and a guy watching each run intently with a clipboard in hand. Huh, who knew?

After heading off the trail and into Railroad Square, we stopped at Flying Goat Coffee for a muffin and a generously whip-creamed hot chocolate before continuing our loop back home.


On the way, we passed a favorite local antiques venue, perhaps worthy of a post all its own one day... I always love their themed window displays : )