Hanging Out At Lodi, Again...Part II

Living in a semi-rural part of the California Delta, you always have to be ready to travel a bit for your entertainment, fine dining and shopping. We are about 25 miles from anywhere so when I'm out art gallery hopping, sketchcrawling or looking for a bite to eat, I'm pretty much doing that while on the road.
This time I was visiting the town of Lodi, CA.

Lodi is in the upper part of the Central Valley, a city of farmlands, dairies, wineries (lots of wineries) and residential homes mostly located along Hwy 12 between Interstate Hwy 5 and Hwy 99. It's a nice drive with views of vineyards, strawberry patches, marshlands and Mt. Diablo in the distant south. I especially like hanging out in the older part of town with it's distinctive architecture on 100 year old buildings and historical areas. Did you know the first A&W Rootbeer was sold in Lodi? (Yup, neither did I but Huell Howser can't be wrong!) The picture below is by the train station and entrance to the old part of town.

Back in July I attended a pastel workshop in Lodi and enjoyed a preworkshop day of shopping and lunch at the Lodi Beer Co. on S. School Street: that's me in the mirror below taking the picture. We sat across from the enormous brew vats (beer made on the premises).

The burgers and onion rings were enormous!