Trip in Review: Feb.16th

It's Saturday.  I'd arrived at the Sebastapol Inn without event the night before.  I'd been in touch with another workshop attendee briefly the week before, Judy.  She was also staying at the Inn and we planned to connect Friday night.  Connecting ending up being exchanging a few texts and texting photos of each other - we were both so tired from our day of travel.  We agreed to meet in the hotel coffee shoppe at 8:30 a.m.

We met, and clutching our coffees climbed into my "couch on wheels" - my rented Chrysler 300.  It felt like a boat compared to my Mini Cooper, but it did have heated seats.  As we said hello we looked each other up and down and started laughing - we were wearing matching Carharrt bib overalls. Little did we know that would be only the first thing that we had in common...

I handed her my GPS and unfogged the windows, and off we went to Cotati for the first of two days of the classroom workshop.  We chatted non-stop on the way, both just so excited and wondering what to expect.  We came in fast & hot, and were some of the last ones to arrive, so we ended up on the front row in a room of 20-15 people.  It turned out being in the front was the best!  We had a great view of everything plus we could hear everything...

One of the first things we did was go around the room and say our name, where we were from, and why we were there.  Wow!  That was really interesting!  Everyone had such different stories and were in such varied places in their lives.  And to be in the same room with 20 other people who wanted a tiny house was such fun!  At last - people whose first question isn't, "what about the toilet?"!!  LOL

There were lots of lunch options within walking distance and we were able to sit outside in the sun and dine.  Judy (Canada), Nina (Chico, CA) and I soon became inseparable.

The workshop was so well organized and it was nice that it was so small and informal - you could really ask questions and connect with Jay, Mark and Daniel.   They made an amazing team!  Gabriela was videotaping the whole day, too - and into the build later that week.  Ohhh the blackmail footage she eventually captured!  LOL

When the day was over, we drove back to our hotel, and set out on foot, walking and exploring.  We found great food, a Wholefoods, and a Rite Aid drug store... in the next week we visited both several times... It was nice to have so many options within walking distance.