Calistoga is located in the northern part of Napa Valley and is an excellent place to stay or visit…read morefor so many reasons. This city/town in the northernmost part of Napa Valley is known for their geothermal hot springs and mud baths. For this reason, it's an excellent place for a spa getaway with friends or a romantic getaway. It's a great place to pamper yourself with spa treatments, amazing wine, and delicious food. It has a small-town charm to it and the downtown has lots of shops, restaurants, and wine tasting rooms. This town is very walkable, which I love. There are lots of hotels, cottages, and bed and breakfasts within walking distance of downtown area so the town is laid out well in my opinion. They have amazing restaurants. I personally love Lovina restaurant in their downtown area. They have lots of wineries all around you can take the Vine Trail and ride a bike and view the vineyards. If you don't ride a bike, it's a great place to walk and take in the vineyard views. There is lots of hiking. I personally love Oat Hill Mine Trail there and the views are stunning. This trail is open so if you go during the sunny time of year, go early as there is not much shade, bring hiking shoes, and lots of water. There are benches along the way if you want to stop and soak in the views.

This is a cute, old style town in the "cul de sac" of the Napa Valley... at the top, sort of where…read morethe mountains come together. Definitely worth visiting. Plenty of store fronts, eateries, wine tasting, etc to see and do there. Not quite as "upscale" at St Helena, but very nice.

This is the 124th Luther Burbank Rose Parade. The parade route has changed since the last time I…read morewent. It's centered around the new Courthouse Square on 3rd and 4th Streets. I was on the 4th street side and since it's a wider street than 3rd, the Santa Rosa Motorcycle unit was able to perform their trick maneuvers. The parade included local elementary, middle school, and high school bands. The band that came the furthest was Compton High School from southern California. Compton HS band was led by 3 drum majors with the band in full uniform and team of cheerleaders. There were too many floats and participant groups to name here. There were a few long "gaps" in the parade where people thought the parade was over. I was one of them, so I walked over to courthouse square looking for something to eat. There were plenty of food vendors including Thai, Greek, hot dogs, specialty sausages, and more. I walked over to the 3rd street side of the parade discovered Ted Williams of KZST radio was the parade announcer underneath their own tent booth. He did a great job in announcing the parade groups and I found out the parade wasn't over as there was a huge gap. So next year, I'm setting up a portable chair with drinks on the 3rd street side near the KZST booth. It's a parade worth attending!

We went to the 119th Annual Luther Burbank Rose Parade & Festival on Saturday, 5/18/13. It was my…read morefirst time hearing of it, it's one of the oldest & largest event of its kind in Northern Calif. Parade theme this year 2013 was "Surf 'N Safari" so lots of Hawaiian shirts, Hawaiian hats, surf boards & animal balloons. The grand marshall was The Campions. Lots of marching bands, local businesses, local banks, local schools & local politicans & clowns. Parking: city parking garage on 1st & B; 5th & Beaver; and 7th between Mendocino & B St. Plenty of portable bathrooms available. Juilliard Park was where the festival part after the parade was held. We walked in the park & saw the famous church that was made out of One Redwood Tree! Supposedly featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not. The park is located on Santa Rosa Ave across the street from the historic Luther Burbank Home & Gardens.

Sonoma County is diverse compared to the small Napa Valley. One can enjoy the vineyards of the…read moreSonoma Valley, see the Sonoma Plaza (the largest Spanish plaza in California), St. Francis Solano in Sonoma (the youngest mission), the redwoods along the Russian River, Luther Burbank's experimental gardens in Santa Rosa&Sebastopol, go to a yerba mate factory/cafe in Sebastopol (as well as a Japanese Buddhist temple), a raw vegan restaurant in Healdsburg... and the spectacular Russian settlement of Fort Ross out by Jenner. In Sonoma, one can indeed see Russia from one's front porch. In Sonoma County, one can go to an ashram, a Buddhist temple built in Chicago for the World's Fair, meditate in an otherwise bland office building, and go to a Zen Center atop Sonoma Mountain. Jack London called Sonoma County home. Some have speculated that his spectacular Wolf House was burnt down because of his socialist views (his capitalist dystopia in "The Iron Heel" has been cited in the OWS protests) There is the Petaluma Adobe, the largest adobe in California, that lasted only a decade. The only Revolutionary War veteran buried on the West Coast is at a cemetery outside of Sonoma. Other than Detroit, Cotati is the only city with a six-sided plaza. Sonoma County has PLENTY to offer locals&tourists!

Sonoma is the new Napa, the relaxed Napa…read more I prefer to call it- Nuevo Boho Gourmo ( New Bohemian Gourmet)

I absolutely love the Town of Jenner! Jenner is a coastal town where the Russian River meets the…read morePacific Ocean. It has several beaches that are beautiful with spectacular sunsets and lots of opportunities to soak in the nature all around you. You can see harbor seals during certain times of year at the Goat Rock Beach or if you kayak there from the Jenner Visitor Center. You can kayak, swim, or stand up paddle board in the Russian River. I absolutely love hiking along the Kortum Trail in Jenner and at the Jenner Headlands Preserve. The views are stunningly beautiful! There are several hotels and vacation rentals that you can stay at and several restaurants. I love the Rivers End Restaurant for the sunset views and incredible food as well as Jilly's Real Food Roadside.

This is a neat tower of bikes crushed together into a unique art piece. The sculpture, designed and…read morecreated by artists Mike Grieve and Ilana Spector, is made up of recycled bike parts from 340 bicycles (including one tricycle). It's definitely a colorful and creative display, well-preserved, with a couple of benches conveniently located right next to it. The artwork was cool to check out, despite its odd location in front of a Kia Dealership.

Santa Rosa has a requirement that construction projects must put 1% of their budget towards public…read moreart and while that's made for a bunch of murals and benches and sculptures, there's nothing quite like this column of bicycles that were paid for when the nearby car dealership was constructed. Cyclisk - "cycle" and "obelisk" was installed in 2010 with the parts of 339 bicycles and one tricycle that were all beyond repair and destined for landfill. Instead, they were donated by non-profit groups and assembled by the artists. Yes, Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector came up with this concept and managed to get it approved by the city, built and then installed. The artwork is 65 feet tall and yes, look closely and you'll spot handlebars and frames and pedals and wheel forks and sprockets. I've never seen anything like it. Access is free. There is parking at the car dealership and next to the car wash. Zoom in to show the pieces involved. [Round number review 21000 overall - 517 in California - 1985 of 2023.]

IPA10K is a beautiful beer run up at the Barlow in Sebastopol that I am glad to have done thanks to…read moreYelp! After returning back to running events since COVID, I have been happy that Yelp has been working on getting me back into it. Sure, yummy food events are always welcome, but a healthy run gives an excuse to eat more! Especially when it takes place at the Barlow which already itself has its fair share of great food eats. The website was not kidding when it says that it starts the race with a beer/cider toast! I thought it was an electrolyte drink :D So if you see a table full of drinks at the starting line, beware! For those who have not spent too much time in Sebastopol, there is some rural parts with beautiful countryside to run through. I would say that the course was overall easy to moderate with several inclines. However, for those casual runners or just getting into it, I would highly recommend the 3k option. After the race, there was a brewfest with plenty of vendors for people to drink and sample different brews. Although not a big drinker myself, it was a popular post race activity. If not, many of the restaurants at the Barlow and the surrounding area were open to get your fill of breakfast foods and coffee. Overall, I was happy to have participated in the IPA10K and hope many more of these events become available!

The IPA10k was a whole new experience for me that I am grateful to have been able to be a part of…read more Being able to experience it with my fiancé and pup made it even better! I have never run more than a mile or two and that was back in high school. Signing up for this race motivated me and pushed me to do something outside of my comfort zone. And what better way to celebrate than at a brewfest afterwards. Focusing solely on the race - pickup for badges, etc. was made nice and easy and I was ready to go the morning of race day. Parking, of course, was an ordeal, but that's a given for any type of event like this. The organization was impressive. Everyone working was very helpful, encouraging, and just in such a great mood. The route was beautiful. It was such a perfect morning for the run as well. It was just a nice feeling being able to run freely through the wonderful city of Sebastopol with great views of nature along through. There was some mild uphill/downhill, but seemed mostly flat for the 6.2 miles. When we were finished, we were greeted with some Lagunitas soda water type cans and some healthy snack bars and fruit. And then, of course, lots of beer! We definitely talked about making this a tradition. Such a fun day! Thank you so much for the opportunity!

Rocky Road isn't just an ice cream flavor- it aptly describes Petaluma's roadways. Interestingly,…read moreI've heard that Petaluma's roads were rocky all the way back in the 60s. They've always been rough, especially if you're headed into downtown. If you take Petaluma/Pt. Reyes Road (it begins as the D Street Extension), there aren't only granitic outcroppings that hearken back to New Hampshire.. but they're in the road as well. The road improves as soon as you reach Marin County... because, Marin. Back in 1906, Petaluma attracted San Franciscans fleeing the earthquake. The city is built on solid bedrock, preserving its Victorian heritage. Gen. Vallejo's stately adobe on the east side largely survived. Despite its solid footing, Petaluma's roads tend to be an adventure. However, its main thoroughfares- McDowell, Washington, Petaluma (Boulevard) are quite good&get frequent maintenance. Sometimes, I treat Petaluma's roads as a destination- but for the most part, Petaluma's roads are paths to other places- Pt. Reyes Station, Guerneville, Sebastopol, Fort Ross.

After a weekend of rock crawling in the Sierra's, we were referred to the wonderful town of…read morePetaluma. We were not disappointed. The roads are a testament to the sport, and very challenging. We simply couldn't get out of numerous potholes (luckily we had a crew with a winch), and others were bone jarring fun! The city even provides additional obstacles to progress, particularly those parts of the trails deliberately narrowed to challenge even the most advanced. Wonderful stuff. They also allow street cars I understand, but presently this isn't a problem as there are no practical ways to cross town so the residents sportingly stay home while they wait for some sort of train to take them to the outskirts of the next town to shop or simply stand around. Our rock crawler took a real pounding so will need some serious work before we attempt this category 5 challenge again! Kudos to the city leadership for such a visionary recreational opportunity. We'll be back with the entire club as we understand more features are being added every week. The metal plates course will be of particular interest to extreme sports enthusiasts.

Natalie is a super talented, professional and kind artist who creates amazing work for her clients…read more We commissioned Natalie to paint a mural in our home and every step was fun and exciting -- we could not be more happy with how it turned out. We consider this work an heirloom for our family. Along the way, Natalie helped guide our vision and was mindful of expenses, timing and what materials to use (as our mural is indoors). She was also open and great on pricing. Cannot say enough good things about her and her work!