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Drink and dream but don’t drive

By Meg McConahey As a longtime day tripper in my Wine Country backyard, I've never lost my wonder and appreciation for the seemingly endless source of entertainment offered by North Coast wineries. If you're looking for something to do, you don't have to dig hard to find a winery with [...]

By | September 7th, 2011|0 Comments

Easy cycle along the Mendocino Coast

By Meg McConahey After recently upgrading my heavy, 1980s-era Nishiki Pueblo for a sleek little Trek hybrid I was eager to test drive my fast new ride.  I found the  perfect spot for an easy inaugural ride in Fort Bragg, along the Ten Mile Coastal Trail. The name is a [...]

By | August 25th, 2011|1 Comment

Carneros Inn offers gifts from the garden

Guests at the Carneros Inn now leave not just with that  vacation glow but with a basket of fresh produce as well. Weekend getaway guests on Sunday all get goodbye gifts from the garden, which can include heirloom tomatoes, rutabaga, Swiss chard, kale, squash, beets, turnips, peppers, watermelon, [...]

By | August 23rd, 2011|0 Comments

Swimming on location in Geyserville

Movies are all about make-believe for the masses. So it's no surprise that director Francis Ford Coppola's new Winery Park in Geyserville, with two pools connected by a water bridge beneath arches of spray, can give you the feeling of lounging by a pool at a fancy resort in France [...]

By | August 2nd, 2011|0 Comments

Evening adventure in Maxwell Farms

From Highway 12, Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Boyes Hot Springs looks like an urban park for heavy play. Soccer fields, a skatepark, tennis courts, playgrounds. It's a deceiving facade. Unless you park and get out of your car, you'd never know that behind the Boys and Girls Club there [...]

By | July 29th, 2011|0 Comments

Life beyond Highway 29 in Pope Valley

On a recent Sunday I had the good fortune to slip through a wrinkle in time. It happened just as I was finishing a bowl of risotto at the friendly Farmstead restaurant and looking balefully at the endless snake of northbound traffic on Highway 29. They were barely crawling through [...]

By | July 28th, 2011|2 Comments

Splash into a clearer Clear Lake

Good news for boaters, wakeboarders and water and jet skiers who use the state's biggest and lamentably murkiest lake. Lake County officials are taking a more aggressive whack at the weeds that make the name Clear Lake a cruel joke. They're stepping up their weed abatement efforts, targeting areas around [...]

By | July 5th, 2011|0 Comments

Romantic rub and tub on Mendo Coast

If your relationship needs some juice, the Joshua Grindle Inn is offering a Rub and Tub romantic  getaway to lead you back to a loving place. The two-night package includes a room with mantle fireplace and large whirlpool tub (complete with rubber duckie), a full breakfast each morning [...]

By | June 27th, 2011|0 Comments

Maps make summer farm visits a breeze

One of the charms of visiting Sonoma County over other wine regions is the agricultural diversity. You don't even have to visit a single winery or even like wine, to be an agricultural tourist here. And the Sonoma CountyFarm Trails makes it easy. The association of area farms has just [...]

By | June 24th, 2011|0 Comments

Like their best wine, seasoned Napans are getting better

Preservation Napa Valley looks at historical preservation through a completely different lens that will make you view old age with new eyes. "Memory Bank, a Discovery of Old Hands, Old Faces and the Way it Was," offers a visual close-up of the valley's elders. It's not a typical [...]

By | June 23rd, 2011|0 Comments