The former Ruin Bar on Sebastopol’s South Main Street is expected to reopen early this summer as a craft cocktail spot called Third Pig, according to owners Alex and Katie Bowman.
The couple, who own Bowman Cellars in Graton, took over the lease after the closure of Ruin Bar, a pandemic casualty. The narrow, windowless space snuggled between Bank of the West and nearby Sebastopol Sunshine Cafe had long been a dive bar before Ruin owner Mathew Carson spiffed things up in late 2018, but since its closure in March 2020 it has sat empty.
Details are still a bit sketchy, but the Bowmans plan to make the cocktail bar a more lively space with greenery and modern decor that features the exposed brick.
Alex and Katie Bowman opened Bowman Cellars tasting room in 2018, a hip, millennial-friendly space with approachable but well-made wines. Both have roots in the community: Katie’s grandparents are the founders of Andy’s Produce Market in Sebastopol, and Alex’s family owns Bowman Electric.
Single Thread Restaurant & Farm will offer a limited series of dinners at Silver Oak Alexander Valley winery after last month’s fire, which has temporarily shuttered the Healdsburg restaurant.
All bookings at Single Thread’s restaurant have been canceled until the restaurant reopens. The dinners at Silver Oak will begin Friday and include a seven-course wine and food pairing with panoramic views of the Alexander Valley. Silver Oak, Twomey and other collector wines will be featured. Tickets cost $725 per person. Information at exploretock.com/silveroakwineryalexandervalley
In the meantime, owners Kyle and Katina Connaughton’s other project, Little Saint, is expected to open in late April. The plant-based restaurant and café is located inside the 10,000-square-foot space that previously housed SHED. (Curious foodies can sample a mezze plate prepared by the team behind Little Saint at Marine Layer Wines in Healdsburg. Read more here.)
Kyle and Katina Connaughton of Single Thread in Healdsburg. (Eva Kolenko)
Chef de Cuisine Bryan Oliver is reprising his role in the kitchen, and Rusty Rastello, whose team recently won the Wine Spectator Grand Award at Single Thread, will be executive wine director. Akeel Shah, Single Thread’s service director, will be the general manager. Read more here.
On March 31, the Connaughtons will welcome Junghyun “JP” and Ellia Park of the two-Michelin starred Atomix for a night of culinary collaboration. The two couples will craft a 10-course tasting menu reflecting both restaurants’ Asian-influenced cuisines and service styles. Read more here.
A view inside the Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum) an odiferous, seldom blooming plant in full display at California Carnivores in Sebastopol. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Itching to get your hands in the dirt? These plant experts have your back.
Roses For All: Cottage Gardens of Petaluma
This gorgeous destination nursery is known for hundreds of different roses. They start ramping up for spring planting as early as January, and the most popular varieties—pale pink climber Cécile Brunner, classic Iceberg, old-fashioned Sally Holmes— can sell out quickly. If you love vines and twining plants, check out the selection of clematis as well.
Want to try your hand at grapegrowing on a small, backyard scale? Grapevines Galore is the public arm of industry source Grey Creek Viticultural Services, located in the heart of Dry Creek Valley. The nursery sells beautifully healthy, ready-to-plant varieties of both winegrapes and yummy table grapes like Flame and Perlette. Grapevine-specific planting advice, too—mid-March through April is ideal for this area.
Owner Mike Umehara comes by his expertise in Japanese horticulture honestly: His father was the longtime curator at the Japanese Garden in San Mateo. Umehara established the nursery over 30 years ago, focusing solely on rare Japanese maples. These trees’ lacy leaves and delicate forms make them versatile players in wine country gardens, and their spectacular fall colors echo the change in the vineyards. This is a sweet, family-run spot, and well worth the time to seek out.
When April rolls around and you start to think you’ve missed your window for starting from seed with some of the more exotic, difficult-to-find varieties of tomatoes, eggplants, and melons, Healdsburg’s Mick Kopetsky can help you out. He and his team will have ordered the seeds months ago and raised healthy 4-inch plants in their specialty greenhouses, all perfectly in time to start your summer food garden.
Not Just For Pros: Sonoma Valley Wholesale Nursery
This is the professionals’ secret source for well-adapted, organically-grown shrubs and trees in Sonoma Valley, and, despite the name, the nursery is open to the general public. You can get wonderful advice on choosing plants here—owner Paul Martinez is a passionate plantsman—but this selfservice spot works well if you know what you’re looking for and simply want the best quality plants you can find.
Irrigation and Tools: Harmony Farm Supply & Nursery
This organic nursery stocks native grasses, drought-tolerant plants, and veggie starts—but what they’re best known for is their practical, hands-on advice to keep your garden healthy and productive. They have decades of experience helping customers install their own drought-friendly drip irrigation systems (with their help, it’s doable!), and they sell all kinds of soil amendments, tools, and organic pest controls.
Ask almost any ten-year-old what their favorite plant is, and you’ll likely hear, “Venus flytrap.” And California Carnivores has hundreds of them, along with sundews, butterworts, and both hardy and tropical pitcher plants— the latter kept warm in a special humidity-controlled room. Founder Peter D’Amato wrote the book on these exotic gems: his best seller “The Savage Garden” is considered the bible for hobby growers.
Whether you’re looking for a single mature tree to anchor a planting or advice on a backyard grove to make your own olive oil, these experts are a go-to. The nursery propagates its own trees from cuttings, focusing on European varieties for either blending into oil or curing for eating—Frantoio and Leccino from Italy, Arbequina and Manzanillo from Spain. They also stock olive tree bonsai, carefully pruned into shape and nestled into hollowed-out stones.
Curry gumbo from Bayou on the Bay. (Heather Irwin/Sonoma Magazine)
Waking up to the aroma of frying beignets at his grandmother’s house in Louisiana is one of Chef Bradley Wildridge’s earliest memories. Cajun through and through, he has jambalaya in his blood and roux in his soul.
“Yoo-hoo!” was his grandma’s call for him to get out of bed and make a beeline for the kitchen, where the warm, yeasty puffs waited.
Now Wildridge and his wife Mandy make the same beignets each Sunday at the Sebastopol Farmers’ Market under a small tent emblazoned with the name of his fledgling food business, Bayou on the Bay. Other dishes include curry jambalaya, crawfish meat pies and Muffuletta sandwiches, plus other rotating menu items listed on their chalkboards.
It’s been less than a year since Wildridge got serious about his dream of French-Cajun fusion and offered his first pop-up menu at Shady Oak Barrel House in Santa Rosa in late November.
“I just asked some friends one night after beers,” Wildridge said of how his plans to start Bayou on the Bay came to be.
Gumbo and muffaletta sandwich at Bayou on the Bay. (Heather Irwin/Sonoma Magazine)Chef Bradley at Bayou on the Bay. (Heather Irwin/Sonoma Magazine)
A former cook at Dry Creek Kitchen and vegan catering chef, he gained traction with his idea after posting a GoFundMe page to test the waters. He soon found an investor and kitchen space at Old Possum Brewing Co., which has been fostering another pop-up, Austin’s Southern Smoke BBQ (at Old Possum on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays).
Now Wildridge’s venture is one of the many emerging pandemic food pop-ups fueled by invitations to serve food at breweries like Old Possum Brewing, Old Caz, Henhouse and Parliament. It’s a win-win as young, food-savvy beer drinkers come both for the brews and for the rotating food trucks and tents — from sushi and Asian cheesesteaks to samosas, gumbo and barbecue — ushering in a new food culture in Sonoma County.
Without onerous rents, expensive equipment and heart-stopping start-up costs, passion projects that once seemed impossible have become reachable for chefs and bakers. Call it the silver lining to being out of work for a traditional restaurant or catering job after years of pandemic closures and uncertainty.
On an early Saturday afternoon at The Barlow’s Seismic Brewing, Mandy Wildridge whisked a coconut and pecan caramel sauce for their Cajun Cake. The moist, dark crumbs studded with pineapple took me back to childhood granny cakes made with brown sugar, pecans and pineapple. So. Freaking. Good.
With a small fryer, chafing dishes and portable cooktops, the couple danced around their 10-by-10-foot space, turning out orders efficiently and smiling at curious passersby. Most people ended up stopping, having seen the Wildridges at other breweries. As they whipped up my order, Bradley encouraged a trip into Seismic for a beer. A new sushi rice lager (brewed with sushi rice in the grist) was a perfect pairing for the bright, bold, spicy, utterly fusion flavors of Bayou on the Bay. Ca c’est bon, y’all.
Best Bets
Wildridge is an experienced vegan chef and creates vegan and vegetarian riffs on many dishes. The menu frequently changes, with additions and subtractions. Beignets are served only on Sundays.
Smoked BBQ Mac and Cheese, $15: Smoky Joe Matos cheese is the base for creamy macaroni topped with barbecue mushrooms (possibly my new favorite food), crispy onions and jalapeños and barbecue sauce. You can add andouille sausage, chicken or bacon, but it’s pretty perfect on its own. The generous portion is enough for three people or one spectacularly hungry person.
Crawfish Deviled Egg, $7: Crawfish, if you’re not familiar, are the lobster of the Bayou and have a similar sweet and briny meat, just in an abbreviated package. At Bayou on the Bay, their little tails are sauteed in truffle butter and set atop a spicy deviled egg. Add hot sauce, green onions and sprouts (to cool it off). Cajun food isn’t three-alarm hot (at least not here), but it does have a kick that’ll make your eyes water.
Curry Jambalaya, $15: Here’s where the fusion surfaces in Wildridge’s cooking. Curry and coconut milk are added to traditional jambalaya spices (usually a mix of onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, thyme, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika and salt) and a Cajun “holy trinity” of onions, bell peppers and celery. Chicken and sausage stud the rich, aromatic stew, a delicious mash-up that somehow makes a ton of sense.
Gumbo Ramen, $15: Things get a little crazy with this dish. Wildridge starts with a gumbo base of roux, adds vegetables and thins the broth with veggie stock (the broth is vegan). Ramen noodles, sliced andouille sausage and chicken are added, a la carte, along with a smoked six-minute egg. The rich, dark broth is bursting with flavor in a not-quite-ramen, not-quite-gumbo way that worked so well with the light nuttiness of my sushi rice beer. Score!
Natchitoches Crawfish Meat Pies, $7: Call ’em Louisiana empanadas or just plain delicious. Sweet crawfish, veggies and jambalaya rice are stuffed into a dough pocket and fried until crispy and hot. Because we’re dippers, the “Secret Bayou Sauce,” a spicy-creamy dip that adds a proper heat, makes these hand pies doubly delicious.
Bayou on the Bay is at Old Possum Brewing Co. (357 Sutton Place, Santa Rosa, oldpossumbrewing.com) 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and the Sebastopol Farmer’s Market on Sundays. For other times and locations, visit their Instagram @bayou.onthebay.
Server Marlen Flores speaks with customers at La Fondita restaurant in the Roseland neighborhood of Santa Rosa, California, on Friday, February 15, 2019. (Alvin Jornada / The Press Democrat)
La Fondita will open a new location in downtown Santa Rosa on Saturday at 630 Third St., in the space once occupied by Chandi Hospitality Group’s Mercato, which closed in 2018. The Roseland-based Mexican restaurant and food truck had announced plans to expand to the Third Street space in 2020, but halted moving forward during the pandemic.
Known for more than 20 years for her authentic, affordable Mexican cuisine, La Fondita owner Elena Maria Reyes started her food business with an old food truck she and her husband financed by selling their cars and asking her grandmother for a few thousand dollars in startup money.
That same truck — which became the unmistakable orange Delicias Elenitas mobile kitchen — remains permanently parked outside the La Fondita restaurant at 816 Sebastopol Road. Open until 3 a.m., it remains one of the most popular stops on Sebastopol Road.
Pastis-scented steamed mussels and fries at the Girl & the Fig in Sonoma. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat)
The town of Sonoma has a vibrant dining scene that often gets short shrift in comparison to the glitzier Healdsburg. The walkability of the town square, the unpretentiousness and the focus on locally-sourced ingredients makes it a required stop for Wine Country adventures. You could easily spend a weekend eating and not get to even a fraction of the great restaurants in town. Here, however, are some favorites that never let us down. Click through the gallery for details.
Tiffany Holbrook prepares to feed the chickens at Wise Acre Farm in Windsor. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
Raising backyard chickens for 15 years was the sum of Tiffany Holbrook’s experience when she and her husband, Jason, purchased Wise Acre Farm in Windsor in 2018. Since then, the couple has raised 2,000 laying hens a year to supply not only local restaurants, but also their 24/7 egg vending machine, which, during pandemic-related supply-chain disruptions, has helped keep area residents in eggs. “We operate extremely transparently,” says Holbrook. “I want people to see how healthy the chickens are and where their eggs come from.”
5 a.m. My alarm goes off, and by 5:30, I’m in my home office doing paperwork, email, social media posts. If it’s a day when I’m expecting a shipment of chicks, I get a call between 5:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. to pick them up at the post office.
7 a.m. I get my son up — he’s 13 so he’s self-sufficient — and bring him to school. Jason works full-time at Chalk Hill Estate in Healdsburg, so beforehand, he goes to the farm and takes care of the specialty-breed chickens: Frizzles, Polish, Silkies. We also have a flock of special-needs chickens: partially blind, permanent limp, digestion problems. He feeds and waters them and then goes to work.
A carton of eggs from the egg vending machine at Wise Acre Farm in Windsor. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
An egg vending machine at Wise Acre Farm in Windsor. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
8:15 a.m. If I’m picking up chicks, I take them over to the farm. We inspect each one and put it in the brooder. It takes about five months for chicks to start laying, so we’re constantly raising new ones, which gives us a variety of egg sizes.
10 a.m. I bring fermented feed and dry grain to the main flock of about 1,500 laying hens on the 15-acre pasture. We have good egg production this time of year.
11 a.m. Chickens eat the grass down, so I move our four mobile coops to fresh grass around the pasture using our ’73 Chevy 350 with custom fabrication for tracks. (Our pasture gets pretty muddy.) The chickens know to run alongside the monster truck to grab the grasshoppers as I’m driving!
2 p.m. I’ll check on the chicks, sit with them, hang out for a little bit, make sure they’re OK and no one’s acting lethargic. I spend time with the animals so I can pick out when someone’s behaving oddly.
5 p.m. Evening chores start two to three hours before sunset. After my husband gets off work, we do a second round of fermented feed, collect eggs, and close the nesting boxes.
My husband is my egg washer, so he runs them under water; we’re more efficient than machines. As he’s washing, I’m prepping egg cartons. We hand-weigh each egg and distribute it by weight according to regulations. Once all the eggs are sorted, some go in the cartons, some are set aside for restaurants, some go to our vending machine.
Tiffany Holbrook receives a hug from her livestock guard dog, Phoebe, at Wise Acre Farm in Windsor. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
7 p.m. I go home and start dinner. Once the chickens are all roosted and tucked in, my husband will open the boxes back up to feed the livestock guardian dogs, who keep watch for predators — skunks, possums, raccoons, bobcats, coyotes. We keep a few roosters to help guard the chickens during the day. Same with the geese, who are great with hawk alerts.
No day is the same; that’s why I love my job. And happy animals produce good food. If they aren’t happy, they aren’t laying eggs.
Try Tiffany Holbrook’s eggs at the Wise Acre Farm vending machine, 631 Arata Lane, Windsor. 707-480-1900, wiseacrewindsor.com
Cheese is a lifestyle choice in Sonoma County. Goat, sheep, cow, and even buffalo milk are blended to make some of the best artisan cheeses on the West Coast, right here in our own springtime backyard. Click through the above gallery for eight favorite cheeses.
Kevin Jorgeson makes his way up a newly installed route at Session Climbing in Santa Rosa on Thursday, January 27, 2022. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)
Session Climbing is in the homestretch. The 23,500-square-foot climbing and fitness emporium, located a mile south of Santa Rosa’s Courthouse Square, launches this May. And as sunlight streams through the gym’s large windows on a bright afternoon a few weeks before its public debut, another sound is audible over the din of nearby power tools: euphoria.
After nimbly clambering up a challenging intermediate route, Kevin Jorgeson pushes off the climbing wall and into space – his 50-foot fall arrested by his climbing partner of two decades, Mike Shaffer, who is holding the rope and belaying him from below. Jorgeson and Shaffer are the gym’s cofounders: their whoops and laughter fill the building.
Jorgeson, a native of Santa Rosa, is best known for his 2015 first ascent of the Dawn Wall in Yosemite National Park, the hardest big-wall climb in the world. The patience and resilience required for that feat, which took 19 days, have been helpful over the six years that it’s taken Jorgeson and Shaffer to shepherd their passion project to the finish line.
Kevin Jorgeson makes his way up a newly installed route at Session Climbing in Santa Rosa. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)Kevin Jorgeson applies chalk to his hands at Session Climbing in Santa Rosa. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)Kevin Jorgeson is the co-founder of Session Climbing, along with Mike Schaffer. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)
Jorgeson spends as much time growing his sport as he does participating in it. His nonprofit, 1Climb, puts up more modest climbing walls in Boys & Girls Clubs across America. To his delight, interest in Session Climbing has extended far beyond the core community. “Which is the goal—to bring climbing to more people,” he says. In addition to offering an array of climbing and bouldering walls, and classes for local kids, Session features a mezzanine with rooms for yoga, and other fitness equipment, all built around a cafe and gathering area.
As Jorgeson unclips from his rope, he bumps fists with Shaffer, who says, “That felt like a huge moment.”
“It was,” agrees Jorgeson. “It is.”
With their ascents, they’d unofficially christened Session. For Jorgeson, it was like test-driving a car he’d designed himself. “It’s one thing to look at your walls in a rendering, in design, in construction. It’s another thing to be moving over them for the first time, to see how those ideas translate in real life,” he says.
Let the beauty of the North Coast’s landmark redwoods soak into your soul this spring. From a pair of close-to-home excursions to the perfect long weekend away, these three itineraries offer inspiration for the days ahead.
Local Bakeries & Makers
Occidental to Guerneville
Tucked between Sebastopol and the coast, Occidental was founded in 1876 as the last stop on the North Pacific Coast Railroad. Start your day at the oldest building in town, now home to the Altamont General Store. Have a morning mochi doughnut as you browse the store’s local marketplace, loaded with wares — we love the ceramics from Clayfolk.
Life happily revolves at a slower pace for the thousand or so folks who live among the redwoods in this serene pocket of west county. If the 15 mph speed limit along winding Fitzpatrick Lane doesn’t cement that in your psyche, stepping under the wooden archway at the Grove of Old Trees will. Shortly after you enter the grove, take the trail to the left, and in a matter of seconds, you’ll find yourself in the most dramatic slice of the forest, identified on a small wooden sign as Anne’s Circle.
Mochi donuts at The Altamont General Store in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)
The Union Hotel in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)A cheerful breakfast at Howard Station Cafe in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)
Back in town, peruse the candle bar at Boho Bungalow, visit the historic 1879 Union Hotel for giant meatballs and delicious pizza, or drop by the quirky Octopus Shed. Emblazoned with a vibrant orange octopus, the self-serve pottery stand downtown features the whimsical work of ceramists Cindy and James Searles.
“The octopus air planter we make went viral on the internet about six years ago when we moved to Occidental. We did not even know what that meant at the time,” says Cindy Searles. “It changed our work and our lives in a wonderful way.”
Head south of town via the Bohemian Highway to the family-owned (and solar-powered) Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery. Spring is owner/winemaker Marimar Torres’s favorite time of year. “It’s so exciting and gorgeous when the vines start to come to life,” she says.
“And then when they flower, you walk along the rows, and they have the most subtle and delicious smell.” Snag a seat on the sunny patio for a glass of Albariño paired with house-made tapas inspired by Torres’s native Barcelona.
It’s one thing to hike through a redwood grove — it’s another thing altogether to fly through one at the level of the birds, dozens of feet in the air. Doubling back north along the Bohemian Highway toward Guerneville, take in some of the best redwood views in the county on a trip with Sonoma Zipline Adventures. The company also offers extraordinary overnight stays in yurt-like tree houses, where the trunk of the tree comes up right through the middle of the tree house.
Pass through the “vacation wonderland” of Monte Rio via Highway 116 on your way to Guerneville, where lumberjacks first arrived in the late 1800s. After you park, take the time to do something most don’t — stroll across the Guerneville Bridge and peek at the rolling Russian River below, where steelhead and salmon migrate to spawn in winter and kayakers frolic in summer.
Guerneville is a riot of small shops and galleries, and odds are good you’ll see artists in action at both Oli Gallery and Lifvendahl Gallery, where owner Mark Lifvendahl’s abstract floral paintings convey the joyful feeling of spring all year long. Have an early dinner at Food Network star Crista Luedtke’s eatery Brot (the traditional pork schnitzel is outstanding) or grab a Meyer lemon-curd biscuit to go at Big Bottom Market. While there, look for the occasional basket of day-old biscuits that hides out by the cash register. At a dollar a pop, these fluffy bundles are the best bargain in town.
Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Guerneville. (Mariah Harkey)Mushrooms erupt from the forest floor in spring. (Chad Surmick/Sonoma Magazine)
The short drive to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve barely gives you time to finish your biscuit. Here, you’ll find Sonoma’s largest grove of first-generation redwoods open to the public. In springtime, lush ferns share the forest floor with wildflowers, and the colorful display of blooms in the area surrounding the Redwood Forest Theater gets stellar reviews.
The 2020 Walbridge fire burned sections of the park, closing the area for months. But thanks to the days-long effort of fire crews, the blaze didn’t inflict large-scale lasting damage among the historic groves. Stop, and take a moment to appreciate the countless folks throughout the years who have fought to preserve the beauty surrounding you.
Getting There
The Altamont General Store, 3703 Main St., Occidental. 707-874-6053, altamontgeneralstore.com
Grove of Old Trees, 17599 Fitzpatrick Lane, Occidental. landpaths.org
Running more than 50 miles along the Sonoma Coast, Highway 1 flaunts the beauty of a coastline where colossal redwoods have mastered hiding in plain view. After fueling up at Jenner’s Café Aquatica with a cup of joe, head straight to nearby Pomo Canyon Campground for a hike. A magnificent redwood grove studded with impressive fairy rings (redwoods growing in a circle), ferns, and wildflowers winds through the area near the lower-numbered campsites. The Pomo Canyon-Red Hill loop tops out at views of the river, ocean, and redwoods below.
In Jenner, peek at the harbor seal pups flopping about on the beach just past the visitors center. Then head inland to Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery, where local cheeses and charcuterie pair with hard-to-find Pinotage. Even the hummingbirds seem abuzz over the winery’s patio, with its ocean-facing panoramic views.
A vintage fireplace with a view at Jenner’s Timber Cove Resort. (Courtesy of Timber Cove Resort)
Local seafood and mushrooms at Timber Cove’s Coast Kitchen. (Courtesy of Timber Cove Resort)
Back in the drivers seat, continue back to Highway 1 and head north, keeping an eye out for a 93-foot-tall obelisk visible on the bluffs. When you see it, hang a left into the parking lot of the luxurious Timber Cove Resort and its ocean-view restaurant, Coast Kitchen. You don’t have to be a hotel guest to get a closer look at the sculpture, which was created by Beniamino Bufano in the 1960s and is set inside a 60-foot diameter swath of land named the Bufano Peace Statue Monument.
As you continue along the coast, try not to get lost in the sea of blue — it’s all too easy to miss the turn into Stillwater Cove Regional Park a few miles north. “Most people do not know of the redwood forest here,” says Carson Hunter, a ranger with Sonoma County Regional Parks. “You can find yourself in the trees breathing the clean air or you can perch yourself on a rock overlooking the ocean.” The Canyon Loop winds past 500-year-old redwoods; a short side path leads to the Fort Ross schoolhouse, built in 1885.
lush rhododendrons at Kruse Rhododendron State Natural Reserve. (Chad Surmick/Sonoma Magazine)
The Canyon Trail at Stillwater Cove Regional Park north of Fort Ross. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat)
Just six miles north of Stillwater Cove is Kruse Rhododendron State Natural Reserve, where, beginning in April, clusters of bright rhododendron blossoms compete for attention with redwoods and Douglas firs —the 15-minute loop trail here is an ideal short jaunt.
Ten minutes further north, the calzones at Twofish Baking (inside the Stewarts Point Store) go into the oven well before the sun comes up and are worth waiting in line for. Order a white calzone, stuffed with mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, basil, and olive oil, and a couple of sticky buns to go. Then, takeout in hand, head to Annapolis Winery to pair your calzone with a glass of apple wine or a crisp sparkler.
To reach the winery, head north ten minutes, then turn right on Annapolis Road, winding up into the coastal hills, past the historic Horicon Schoolhouse (the second one-room schoolhouse of the day!) and a grove of organic olive trees. You’ll know you’re there when you see vines and apple trees in spring bloom. Tastings here take place outdoors on a hilltop surrounded by redwood forest, and a flight of four wines is just $10.
Save the day’s last light for a quick stop at the nearby Starcross Monastic Community’s roadside farmstand to stock up on preserves and Sister Julie’s Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The good brothers and sisters of Starcross accept Venmo — a small nod to modernity at a spot where time seems to stand still.
Outside Fort Bragg, electric-boosted railbikes follow the route of the Skunk Train. (Chad Surmick/Sonoma Magazine)
Railbike Adventures & Roadside Attractions
Philo to Eureka
The ultimate redwood road trip leads north, through Mendocino into Humboldt County. A small taste of the gargantuan coast redwoods can be found in the Anderson Valley at Hendy Woods State Park. After stretching your legs in the company of these ancient beauties, set a course for the coast along Highway 128. The road snakes its way west, winding through the thick redwoods along the Navarro River before the Pacific Ocean comes into focus near the town of Albion.
Time for adventure. Railbikes are relative newcomers to the active stretch of railway that’s been used by Fort Bragg’s Skunk Train since 1885. As you roll along, the rhythmic clickety-clack of the wheels are about the only sound you’ll hear as you pedal along the Pudding Creek Estuary through a redwood forest home to trees more than 1,000 years old.
“There is always that notion on a misty day, that around the next corner you just might spot that brontosaurus,” says the railway’s Robert Jason Pinoli. Don’t worry about breaking a sweat along the shady, 7-mile route: the custom-built, two-person beauties boast an electric assist that kicks in with the push of a button.
Head back south along the coast to the town of Mendocino, where you can toast your ride with a beautiful spring-onion tart or a warming bouillabaisse in the garden at the Trillium Cafe, or with vegetarian Southern cuisine from Fog Eater Cafe. Call it a night in the water tower at the town’s luxurious JD House. Tomorrow, you’ll trade the coast for classic roadside kitsch.
Trillium Cafe’s simple, white clapboard exterior. (Chad Surmick/Sonoma Magazine)A spring onion tart topped with arugula and beet greens at Mendocino’s Trillium Cafe. (Chad Surmick/Sonoma Magazine)
In the morning, head north from the town of Mendocino about an hour and a half towards the tiny town of Leggett, where you can snap a selfie at one of Northern California’s three remaining drive-through redwoods, the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree. Peek inside the Famous (the sign says so) One-Log House, or step inside the Chimney Tree, hollowed out by a fire in 1914. Big-tree tourism is big business in these parts; if you have any doubt, pull into the Legend of Bigfoot before exiting Highway 101 for the famous Avenue of the Giants.
Meandering more than 30 miles through Humboldt Redwoods State Park, the two-lane Avenue of the Giants (also known as Highway 254) is home to the single largest stand of old-growth redwoods in the world. Pristine patches of forest beckon all along the way. Stop at the Founders Grove, where a half-mile trail kicks off with a 346-foot-tall specimen tree, then winds past a toppled-over 1600-year-old redwood affectionately called the Dyerville Giant.
Finish the day at the Samoa Cookhouse, the last surviving lumber-camp style cookhouse in North America. All-you-can-eat, hearty meals the likes of fried chicken and pot roast are served family-style on long tables covered with red checkered plastic tablecloths.
Or, grab an oyster grill kit and fire up a barbecue at Humboldt Bay Social Club, a former WWII blimp base turned chic boutique hotel and eatery. Rooms here come with access to a secluded beach and use of a dreamy outdoor bathhouse ideal for soaking under the stars. In nearby Eureka, Carter House Inns offers rooms (most with fireplaces) spread throughout five Victorians and a cozy bar with a wine list more than 80 pages long.
An eclectic modern vibe in the communal lounge at Humboldt Bay Social Club in Samoa. (Courtesy Humboldt Bay Social Club)
Come morning, you’ll wrestle with a difficult decision.
An argument could be made that sunny spring days in these parts should be dedicated to the coast, exploring vibrant tide pools at Palmer’s Point, and looking for migrating whales from Wedding Rock, both in Sue-meg (formerly Patrick’s Point) State Park.
But this trip is all about the trees, and if you forge ahead just another hour north, you can roam through Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, just like dinosaurs did in Steven Spielberg’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” Or go chasing waterfalls within a stretch of old-growth forest at gorgeous Trillium Falls.
Let the beauty of the North Coast’s landmark redwoods soak into your soul this spring. (Courtesy Eddy Alexander/City of Eureka)The new Redwood Sky Walk at Eureka’s Sequoia Park. (Courtesy Eddy Alexander/City of Eureka)
End your long weekend away on a high note at the new Redwood Sky Walk at Eureka’s Sequoia Park Zoo, where a network of platforms and suspended bridges stretch nearly a quarter-mile through a grove of redwoods.
At the highest point of the journey, you’ll be 100 feet in the air, yet still only a third of the way up into the canopy of the mighty trees. Gaze up. Glance down. And revel in the moment with these truly awe-inspiring forces of nature.
Getting There
Hendy Woods State Park, 18599 Philo Greenwood Road, Philo. 707-895-3141, parks.ca.gov
Skunk Train Railbikes, 100 West Laurel St., Fort Bragg. 707-964-6371, skunktrain.com
