We took a leisurely drive north from San Francisco for about an hour and a half before arriving here at the Hilton in Sonoma County. We’re here because I have signed up to do the Tribes Summer Institute, held once every two years. I did the last one in Clearwater Texas and was pleased to see California was chosen for this one. I will only be doing two of the four scheduled days due to it clashing with the San Diego Comic Con – the biggest International convention held for initially comic books fans but now it caters to all interests in science fiction, fantasy, drama, comedy entertainment – be it movies, short films, TV, podcasts, animation etc etc. Tribes is the way I teach at high school, it’s pretty much the entire approach to managing a classroom and addressing the most engaging ways to get kids involved with their curriculum. I have been Tribes trained for a number of years now and became a Tribes Trainer (qualified to train other teachers) back in 2010. The Summer Institute is an opportunity for other Tribes Trainers to gather from across the country and other countries and pretty much share and exchange ideas through breakout sessions and to talk about how Tribes is working with them. I’m looking forward to catching up with friends made in 2010 and also seeing some new and innovative integrations of the Tribes process in classrooms.

After we checked in we decided to do a couple of the sightseeing suggestions, took a drive out the Armstrong Redwoods State Park and then off to Bodega Bay where Hitchcock’s infamous The Birds was filmed.

The first trail we did was a pretty sedate stroll for about 1.5km…we then took another trail back called the Pool Ridge trail went for about 2.25kms but distance was irrelevant really compared to what the incline was – switchbacks that trailed up and pretty steep (more than the incline I have on the treadmill put it that way), was a good work out to tide me over till I get to try out the Hilton gym on Monday morning.

Had my first seafood chowder today at the The Tides Wharf restaurant – we stopped there in Bodega Bay by random and it turns out it is one of the recommended Bodega Bay restaurants. The Chowder was tasty, my red pacific snapper yummy and the service of good standard. Good meal to have for the day. Tribes tomorrow and Tuesday but hope to do the African Wildlife Safari park tour as well perhaps in the afternoon after Tribes.