The Wild Turkeys of Petaluma.
Jill and I are trying to lose some weight, get in better shape, and not be stuck in front of the computer doing work for San Francisco Tourism Tips all day long.
In that vein, we are making sure to do walks each day that we aren’t out in San Francisco getting more information for the site.
Petaluma is such a wonderful little town and it is so easy to get out in to the countryside and away from traffic, cars and noise, especially compared to places like Beijing, where it is almost impossible to find silence and solitude, even in parks and nature since it is so polluted, packed with people, and dirty.
For that reason, alone, we need to be out and taking advantage of what we have been given here and we are doing that.
On the days where we don’t walk, I’m trying to run or do something else to continue getting in shape. I’m definitely not where I want to be at this point and so I’m doing something about it.
As we walked over a rather large hill in the outskirts of Petaluma, Jill said, “Hey, look at that!” and pointed out a few turkeys that had just finished crossing the road in front of us. No, I didn’t ask them if a chicken had crossed the road before them or why if it had.
We stopped, watched them walk around and realized, once again, that we are in an area where there is lots of life and nature and that we almost never saw birds in Beijing. We both mentioned this fact to each other, a few times, when we lived in Beijing, but it really comes to life when you see so much flora and fauna in its natural environment.
The only place we really saw that was at the Beijing Zoo and that was a truly horrendous event of which I will only say that that there were people feeding cheese to the monkeys, gazelles and zebras. I’m sure that is exactly what those animals diets are supposed to be, right?
A friend of mine said he saw people hit the pandas with apples in the head so the pandas would look at them and be more active. Suffice to say, NEVER go to the Beijing Zoo if you care about animals at all.
We, on the other hand, were able to see these amazing animals, treat them with respect and let them live their lives, and then see a few tiny quail walk out of the blackberry bushes as an added gift.
If we had just sat at our computers, working all day, we’d have missed this wonderful gift.
That is why we walk.