Petaluma North

Past Cotati, the DMU winds through the adorable little village of Pensgrove, but sadly doesn't have a station, although I really did enjoy the bagel place there, and I think a lot of these post-industrial adaptive reuse buildings have really cute shops in them.

But finally, upon reaching Petaluma North Station, we have a switching area, a very small industrial park serving this I'm assuming giant grain elevator of sorts, although I'm not entirely certain what it is, but there is a switch lead and several spurs.

And on top of that, the bicycle trail is still running alongside Smart, so you can bicycle from the train station to factories and industrial jobs.

So even though the station does have a small park-and-ride and has some somewhat walkable housing, it is also a way to provide car-free transportation for blue-collar workers.

I think this is another thing that Smart does spectacularly well.

Honestly, I also think that both of these pictures are some of my favorites from the entire trip, and you'll be getting a lot more of that, Smart is actually just incredibly photogenic.

And then finally, of course I just have to mention it, Petaluma North is actually a very short bicycle ride away from the Lagunitas Brewing Company, which is the patron saint of NPR, so of course I had to pop by for a veggie burger and a pint.

A little to the south, the DMU and the bike trail have a pair of bridges over a cute little creek, and this particular stretch of bike trail is actually getting a ton of use by various different families.