Hiking atop Tomales Point’s craggy cliffs on the California coast, dense fog swirls with abandon, obliterating my view a few yards ahead. Just as quickly it shifts, allowing a fleeting glimpse of scrubby vegetation hugging the sandy trail. Save for scuffing sounds from my boot steps on the sandy trail and the occasional crash of Pacific Ocean waves, the air is serene. Then the shrill, whistle-like bugle of a male Tule elk cuts through the mist. Once again, I wonder if I’m breaking an inviolate law in Sonoma County.
It’s two weeks into my annual extended stay in Sonoma County, California’s original wine country, and I have yet to venture to a winery for a tasting. Could not partaking in winery culture in this wine lovers’ paradise be illegal?
My absence isn’t a matter of proximity. My husband, Bill, and I are renting a cottage in Kenwood, two short blocks from Highway 12, the main thoroughfare lining Sonoma Valley’s vineyards.
Frankly, I’m not even thinking about wineries now. I’m several hundred feet above sea level traversing the Tule Elk Reserve at Point Reyes National Seashore in neighboring Marin County.
Still, there’s no escaping the irony that I’m temporarily living in the world-class Sonoma County wine region, home to 60,000 acres of vineyards and more than 400 wineries, and immersing myself so far in only non-winery activities. The exception, of course, is indulging in local reds, whites, rosés, and bubbles during happy hours and meals.
If I were to appear before a judge and jury, I think their verdict would be not guilty.
My defense: Travelers to Sonoma County who restrict their explorations to wineries alone, as unquestionably stellar as they are, could return home shortchanged.
Granted, they will have tasted award-winning chardonnays, pinot noirs, and zinfandels with iconic names like Seghesio, Dutton-Goldfield, Ridge, Quivira, Merry Edwards, and Lynmar Estate. They will have spent time in spectacular settings featuring lush, orderly vineyards and architecturally interesting tasting rooms, running from simple designs to elaborate Hearst-like castles. That is well and good, and I certainly do my share of the swirl-sip-swallow-repeat ritual at wineries, but there’s more to this part of northern California than the fabled grape.
Herewith is my testimony regarding winery-free options that help make our summers in Sonoma County memorable.
The “other” Sonoma County
“Peanuts” gallery. As an ardent Peanuts fan and follower of Snoopy’s “Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Look to tomorrow. Rest this afternoon.” philosophy, I make an annual pilgrimage to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. The museum houses the largest collection of original Peanuts comic strip artwork in the world.
In the Great Hall, I marvel at the wall-size mural of Lucy ready to snatch the football as usual, landing hapless and hopeful Charlie Brown flat on his back. Good grief! My favorite piece in the museum, it’s composed of 3,588 Peanuts comic strip images printed on individual 2 x 8 inch ceramic tiles. The current featured exhibition, It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, examines the highs and lows of Snoopy’s life as a writer. I can relate.
Life’s a beach. The expansive, jagged scenery along the 16-mile stretch of Highway 1 that hugs the Pacific coast between Jenner and Bodega Bay offers a dazzling panorama of sand, coves, bluffs, headlands, and trails, even when the daily fog rolls in.
Bodega Head is our favorite hiking spot. One offshore rock is sea lions’ favorite spot to watch us watching them. We hear their distinctive barking, which sounds like raucous cocktail party chatter, yards away before we round a bend and their perch comes into view.
Flower power. Cradled in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains in Glen Ellen lies Quarryhill Botanical Garden, one of the world’s pre-eminent Asian botanical gardens. Its 25 acres feature more than 20,000 species grown from seed that was wild-collected in Asia. Many are rare and endangered due to habitat loss in their native regions.
My recent self-guided tour became a guided one when I serendipitously encountered docent Steve Corey at the arbor. With a casual warning to stay alert for rattlesnakes, Steve led me along winding gravel paths and wooded trails thick with flowering shrubs, exotic shade trees, tranquil ponds, and water features. The highpoint? Emmenopterys henryi, called “one of the most strikingly beautiful trees of Chinese forests.”
Say cheese! I like to hit the road and explore sites and sample goods on the California Cheese Trail, which promotes artisan cheesemakers and family farmers. Newly discovered this year is Joe Matos Cheese Factory in Santa Rosa. Grazing cows, factory, weather-worn barn, and tiny retail shop share space on the farm. I breathe deeply and inhale the unmistakable barnyard bouquet Sonoma County locals call “Sonoma Aroma.”
The founders’ granddaughter cheerily staffs the counter. Stacked rounds of cheese are visible in the storage room behind her. She offers generous slices of regular and aged St. Jorge cheese, a rich, cheddary, raw milk-style crafted from the family recipe from their homeland in the Portuguese Azores. Sold. We bring home thick wedges of both to enjoy at a picnic on the terraced lawn at Sonoma State University’s Weill Hall at the Green Music Center while sultry Diana Krall performs jazz standards.
Gentle giants. A primeval forest of ancient coast redwoods, the tallest living things on Earth, covered much of Sonoma County until logging began in the 19th century. Fortunately, Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve safeguards a remaining grove. These stately, majestic trees stand together, a metaphor for their dominance and longevity in nature. I become awe-filled, humble, reverent, and self-reflective in their quiet presence. Streaks of sunlight filter through dense canopies of branches, enhancing the ethereal quality.
I always seek out Parson Jones Tree, the tallest at 310 feet high, and Colonel Armstrong Tree, the oldest at over 1,400 years, to reassure myself they’re still among us and upright. They are indeed.
Farm to table. Ingredients for home-cooked dinners come largely from our cottage garden and farmers’ markets. We frequent Santa Rosa’s Wednesday Night Market and the Red Barn Store, quaintly set in a 100-year-old rustic barn on Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen.
Shopping for ripe, fresh, organic/sustainable, local, and seasonal produce is a sensory pleasure. We find foods not available in Charlotte and some previously unfamiliar to us, like the generally mild padrón peppers. We blister them on the grill, and essentially play Russian roulette, hoping to avoid eating the rare super-hot ones. I always lose.
Call of the wild. The allure of Jack London State Historic Park, former estate of the early 20th century author, stems from history and nature. London led a colorful, adventurous life, and infused that romantic spirit in his famous book “Call of the Wild.” I conjure that sense of vitality when I hike this National Historic Landmark property in Glen Ellen.
There’s a reason London called his 1400 acres Beauty Ranch. Miles of trails. Sensational scenery and landscape ranging from forests to meadows. A 2,000-year-old redwood tree. And historic buildings that convey the story of this legendary man.
Mr. Potato Head. The Greek Revival-style home, greenhouse and lush gardens where horticulturist Luther Burbank lived and worked for 50 years form an oasis at a busy intersection in Santa Rosa. The property is a registered national, state, and city historic landmark.
Burbank turned plant breeding into a modern science, introducing more than 800 new varieties of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and ornamental flowers. Perhaps best known is his Russet Burbank potato. I often say silent thanks to Burbank when I bite into a French fry or a baked potato.
More to explore
I thought I had Sonoma County well scoped out, but dining at The Spinster Sisters on Wednesday Burger Night has proven me wrong. The owner recently published “The Spinster Sisters’ Guide to Sonoma County.” She queried staff, farmers, regulars, and neighbors for tips and insights. Their riffs range from favorite farmers’ market to best place to boogie to preferred jewelry maker to best dive bar.
I buy a copy, and start researching anew. Sonoma County’s wineries will just have to wait a little longer.
