A Most Enjoyable Friday at The Flower Farm, Loomis, CA

Gerry was the ride leader for his bike club's ride today. Last Saturday he went on a club ride up towards Auburn. He got as far as Loomis and stopped at a place called The Flower Farm for some lunch. He decided to do the club ride today up to The Flower Farm. Yesterday after we picked up our grandson Andy from school and took him to Aunt Elizabeth's house, we drove up to The Flower Farm to see how many miles it would be from Beal's Point at Folsom Lake. The ride was going to be on the American River Bike Trail to Beal's Point and then from there it would be on surface streets.

He told me I could drive out today and meet him if I wanted to so I decided to do it. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and it was probably about 60 degrees. The Flower Farm is located in Loomis which is kinda north-east of Sacramento. It is mostly farms, ranches and huge homes out there. I got there a little after 10 am, he told me they'd probably be there about 10:30 am. The riders started arriving around 10:20 or so. Gerry was in the last group getting there. Because he was the ride leader, he had to make sure that no one got lost. He got there after 11 am. There were 2 women who are new to the club on the ride and he stayed with them to make sure they found their way. There were over 40 people today on the ride. I did the ride sheet for him and made 20 copies so there weren't enough copies for everyone. Some of them said they didn't need a ride sheet so it worked out. A lot of them went to Folsom to Karen's which is a restaurant/bakery/deli that they go to a lot of the time. Twenty-two people went out to The Flower Farm. It is a nursery, cafe, B&B and a large barn where they can accommodate banquets, weddngs, etc.

I sat in the car for awhile reading the paper then got out and wandered around the garden for a while. I found a stone bench to sit at and watched the hummingbirds, there was a robin looking for worms and a couple of geese flew overhead. The sun felt great and it was the most peaceful setting.

The cafe has a large deck on the backside and there are chairs and tables in the yard. Last Saturday Gerry had a bagel sandwich for lunch so we ordered the same thing today. It is a bagel served open face that has been spread with cream cheese, thin slices of cucumber, red bell peppers, slivers of red onion with a thin sauce of some kind topping it. The cost is $4 and for $2 more you can have slices of smoked salmon on top. It was a messy sandwich with the sauce, however, so very good. We shared a sandwich, last week Gerry ate a whole one. I don't know if I could eat a whole one, it was pretty rich with the cream cheese and smoked salmon. They have all kinds of drinks and lunch specials. I had a raspberry Italian soda and Gerry had coffee. The lunch special today was cream of tomato soup with a roll or lasagna.

There also were different things for sale in the cafe, art prints, t-shirts, tote bags and handmade cards, among other things. I did look at the cards, they were all very nice.

I am sure I will be asking to go out there again for lunch on another lovely spring day. I didn't think to take my camera with me, I will have to remember to do that the next time we go out there.