It’s peak season for restaurant openings, and by “peak” I mean I can’t even keep up with them all. Suffice to say that I’ve been spending more with a fork in my mouth than a pen in my hand. So while I gather my notes and edit my mouth-watering pictures, here’s a sneak preview of where I’ve been, what’s to come and what I’ll be writing about in the next couple months.
Six Brand New Sonoma County Restaurants
Ceviche at The Shuckery in Petaluma. Heather Irwin/PD
The Shuckery: We’re already in love with this small oyster bar and seafood restaurant, just a couple weeks into service. A project of the venerable Oyster Girls (sisters Aluxa and Jazmine Lalicker), oysters obviously get top billing here, each hand-shucked behind the bar, ranging from Humboldt Gold Kumamotos and New Brunswick St. Simons to British Columbia’s Fanny Bay and nearby Tomales Bay Miyagis ($3 each). The menu also includes one of the best dishes of ceviche we’ve had lately, with orange, lemon and lime, chili, cilantro and piquillo pepper coulis ($12). A signature is the Relleno ($25) made with a pounded calamari steak, Dungeness stuffing and creamed corn. If you’re on a budget, Baja Style Tacos ($14) are top notch, and it’s worth saving a little room for the “Dueling Budinos” ($9) that include dark chocolate and salted caramel going head to head with peanut butter, bacon and banana. Meat-free dishes include tempura avocado tacos and cauliflower “hot wings” ($14). Reservations are strongly recommended since the space inside the Hotel Petaluma is cozy. They’re still getting their sea legs, so don’t be surprised by a few wobbles in service, but overall, impressive. 100 Washington St., Petaluma, theshuckeryca.com.
Caesar salad at Steele and hops in Santa ROsa. Heather Irwin/PD
Steele and Hops: We’ve never seen a restaurant get their act together after an opening quite as fast as this new family-friendly Santa Rosa brewpub. After a meh soft opening, the food has stabilized, and after three visits, Steele and Hops is a keeper. Best bets include brisket “cigars” (think egg roll with melted cheese and smoked brisket, $7); chicken fried onion rings with mushroom gravy ($6), and excellent Caesar with bocarone anchovies ($9.5) the S&H Signature burger ($13.5) with onion jam, and the fried chicken sandwich ($11.50). We’re less wowed with the brick-oven pizzas (even a teenager turned her nose up at the burnt crust) and the hangar steak ($17.50) was off-putting. We’ll be back, though, for the fish and chips ($14) and incredible strawberry shortcake. Oh, and they have about 20 beers on tap, along with a decent wine list. 1901 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, steeleandhops.com.
Tapas at Tasca Tasca in Sonoma. Heather Irwin/PD
Tasca Tasca: The third restaurant for Chef Manuel Azavedo (La Salette, Cafe Lucia), this Portuguese tapas bar is by far one of our favorites. Sit at the casual bar, or grab a table, and order from dozens of authentic small plates (each about $5). Our favorites included fried Piri Piri potatoes with saffron aioli; albacore tuna ceviche; goat stew with fingerling potatoes, steak tartare, and Lupini beans. Sadly, we somehow missed out on the Caldo Verde (Portugal’s national soup) that we’ve loved from his other restaurants. Passionfruit and pomegranate sangrias are the perfect pairing. 122 W. Napa St., Sonoma, tascatasca.com.
Tikka tacos at Momo Grill in Santa Rosa. Heather Irwin/PD
Momo Grill: Surprisingly good Nepalese and Indian cuisine in an unlikely Roseland location getting lots of buzz. A quick lunchtime meal included butter chicken, and Indian style tacos (you gotta trust me on this) and a solid palak paneer. Also love that the meat is Halal. More on this after a spin through their momos and entrees. 750 Stony Point Rd., Santa Rosa, facebook.com/momogrillrestaurant.
Superburger, Windsor: A new Superburger has opened next to Oliver’s, joining its Santa Rosa and Windsor siblings. So now you’re never more than a few minutes from a Montecito Ave. burger and chili dogs anywhere in Sonoma County. 9238 Old Redwood Hwy., Windsor, santarosasuperburger.com.
Duck dish at Revival. Courtesy Revival
Revival: The new-new restaurant at Applewood has quietly opened, with Guerneville hospitality maven Crista Luedtke at the helm and Chef Ben Spiegel in the kitchen. It’s an exciting pairing, with Luedtke’s local experience in the restaurant and hotel business (Boon Eat + Drink, Big Bottom Market, El Barrio, Boon Hotel + Spa) and Spiegel’s experience at NYC Skal, The Willows Inn on Lummi Island. The opening menu includes Liberty duck liver mousse ($11), grilled romano beans with Japanese cucumber and goat cheese cream ($10) and ricotta dumplings with shiitake, lobster mushrooms and arrowhead spinach ($23). Revival is the newest iteration of the luxury inn’s dining program, which received a Michelin star under its former chef, but lost traction in recent years. New ownership by hotelier Ric Pielstick of EpiSoul and Luedeke’s involvement bode well. “The restaurant space was overdue a cosmetic makeover. And it was a great opportunity for me to re-brand the whole look of the interior and create a menu that represents the food and the experience we want to showcase,” said Luedtke. Open for dinner Thursday through Monday, 13555 Hwy. 116, Guerneville, eatatrevival.com.
On the horizon Handline: Seafood-focused restaurant from Peter Lowells’ owner Lowell Sheldon is slated for a late September launch in Sebastopol. Single Thread: The high-profile project in Healdsburg is looking at a late October opening.
I’m past being surprised when the media confuse Sonoma restaurants as being in Napa, or altogether ignore Sonoma in lists of the best Wine Country Restaurants for tired usual suspects. However, this time, at least one of my favorites did get tapped by the Wine Spectator as “World-Class”.
The Healdsburg eatery, which got a meh 2.5 stars by The Chronicle’s Michael Bauer in 2015 is a crowd favorite for its haute dining in a convivial, decidedly unstuffy atmosphere. Not to mention the charm of Chef Dustin and his brother, Aaron Garzini (who’s front of the house) along with their dad, Bob, who is usually a fixture at the bar or roaming from table to table as unofficial host. If you can’t tell, I’m a fan. And not just for their $3,000 kobe beef.
It’s also worth noting that two of Chef Charlie Palmer’s restaurants were named: Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg and the newer Harvest Table in St. Helena.
Chefs Charlie Palmer and Scott Romano at Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg. Photo: Paige Green.
These Wine Spectator Awards, according to the magazine, represent Wine Country Restaurants that “are a cut above the rest, be it for their vineyard views, their championing of producers both local and global, or their creative renditions of all types of cuisine.”
Barn Diva Studio offers a curated list of cocktails and small bites with no need for reservations
Along with Valette and DCK, the Wine spectator also named Barndiva, and John Ash & Co. as top Sonoma County picks.
La Toque restaurant in Napa courtesy of the Westin.
In Napa, the awards went to La Toque, 1313 Main Restaurant & Wine Bar, Auberge du Soleil Restaurant, Farm, Bistro Jeanty, Bouchon, Carpe Diem Wine Bar and Solbar.
Amanda Mae Blackmore browsing the outfits at a clothing swap at the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa.
When Santa Rosa resident Ken James organized a music-infused clothing swap for charity at The Arlene Francis Center earlier this year, it immediately generated calls for an encore. On August 2, it was time for the second round of Clothing Swap Extravaganza.
What inspired James to create a community clothing exchange in the first place was the realization that he had too many clothes. He decided to organize a clothing swap and to donate the proceeds to Social Advocates for Youth (SAY), a local organization he had previously worked with. “I really appreciate what they [SAY] do for kids,” James said, “they did a lot for me when I was younger and this is my way of trying to give back to them. And also, who doesn’t love clothes?”
Ken James, organizer of the Clothing Swap Extravaganza in Santa Rosa.
At the time of the first event, James lived next to the Arlene Francis Center on 6th Street in Santa Rosa. The center encourages members of the community to propose events on their website and then puts on the events if they are in line with the mission of the nonprofit organization.
Some of the proceeds from James’s second clothing swap were donated to the center in order to keep its service to the community running. Excess clothing was given to Social Advocates for Youth. Again, the event had a large turnout and a nice community vibe.
Jamie Batt, one of the clothing swap attendees, had been looking forward to this event ever since attending the first clothing swap extravaganza. “I’ve had it on my radar,” Batt said. “This one is probably twice as big as the first one. I think more people told their friends, so that’s pretty awesome.”
Batt has found a variety of new outfits through these clothing swaps; one of her recent favorites being an “awesome patchwork leather vest.”
Niko Green came to the event carrying four gallon sized bags full of clothing on a mission to declutter her closet. Green had not planned to pick up any clothes but in the end she purchased a few irresistible items. “I had a lot of things to get rid of, but then I stuck around because people keep bringing more and more cool things,” Green said. “I’m down to two [bags] — so that’s an improvement!”
And the sight of all those clothes wasn’t the only reason Green lingered, “interacting with the community is super cool too,” she said.
Kiya Polo-Schlosberg at Clothing Swap Extravaganza in Santa Rosa.
Kiya Polo-Schlosberg also enjoyed the community atmosphere at the Arlene Francis Center. “I’ve actually been meaning to do a closet clean out and this seemed like a very positive way to do that,” Polo-Schlosberg said. “I heard about it on Facebook and decided I’d swing by. Me and my girlfriends are here. I love events like this.”
The easy-going atmosphere at the clothing event was accompanied by some great live music. The lineup included performances by DJ Gloomy Beach, Mama Sat and The Wax Factory and Dillon O’Bannon. “I think it is a nice touch,” O’Bannon said and added, “It really adds that communal sense — where it’s not just a bunch of people silently browsing clothes.”
Although this clothing swap has come and passed, it won’t be the last. According to James, the public can expect another event with tunes soon, “I’m making things happen slowly but surely,” he said. “You can expect to see another one of these in a few months — once I get more clothes that need donating.”
Peggy Fransen prepared to toss her bocce ball into a crowded field of red and green spheres, all huddled around a little white pallino.
She had a strategic conundrum. Should she try to knock out an opponent’s red ball or try to land her green one closest to the pallino, a small white ball? Or, take the safe route and throw it outside the scrum so as not to inadvertently bump a teammate’s ball and hurt their chances?
Gently but deliberately, Fransen rolled her ball into the fray, down the red dirt court at Juilliard Park, home to Santa Rosa’s city bocce league.
It made its way between two balls and almost miraculously curled around another, coming to rest closest to the pallino — the target.
Squeals of delight erupted from her Balls of Fire teammates, and congratulations came from her Rock N Rollers opponents.
“No skill involved,” Fransen declared. “It was luck! Just luck. I was thinking about just throwing it away.”
Bocce players react to a close call during bocce league play at Campo Fina restaurant in Healdsburg.(Photo by Alvin Jornada)
Bocce, an ancient game that is both simple and complex, has bloomed in popularity throughout Sonoma County in the past few years, and leagues are now offered nearly every day of the week.
Dozens of wineries, parks and even restaurants offer the casual game for customers to indulge in while they enjoy a little Wine Country lifestyle.
It’s one of the few sports you can compete in while holding your wine glass, and some players claim they actually play better after a tipple or two.
Bocce balls on the court at Campo Fina restaurant in Healdsburg. (Photo by Erik Castro)
At Campo Fino restaurant in Healdsburg, the Thursday night bocce league can get pretty competitive. Owner Ari Rosen installed the courts a couple of years ago as an homage to the game he played with his grandfather during summers in upstate New York.
Several teams now compete in the league, which includes players of all ages and abilities. Gen Xers and millennials toss alongside baby boomers and octogenarians.
At Juilliard Park just a few years ago, the sport was offered only one night a week. Now, between six and eight teams compete every weeknight on the six city courts.
Mondays are fairly laid back as the friendly competition melds with a potluck of cheese, crackers, homemade brownies and garden bounty brought to share.
Bocce Amici team member Ginger Kelly of Santa Rosa said her team began as friends first, then bocce players.
“We got together because we were all amici — friends — to begin with and all Italian,” she said.
“We have a lot of fun. I’m not sure we play well, but we have fun.”
The court is reset for a new game during bocce league play at Campo Fina restaurant in Healdsburg. (Photo by Alvin Jornada)
For many Italian Americans, bocce is a nostalgic reminder of the Old Country and a way to continue celebrating their heritage.
Bocce, pronounced boh-che or more casually bot-chi, can be traced to ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. It is related to British bowls and French petanque.
The word “bocce” is the plural of the Italian word boccia, which means “bowl” in the sporting sense.
It is played throughout the world, particularly where Italian immigrants have moved. In South America, the sport is called bochas or bolas criollas.
Bocce migrated to the U.S. in the 19th century, and immigrants played the game in homemade courts or fields.
It has made a splash more recently as younger people have found the game at wineries throughout Sonoma County or at public places, such as a park along the Embarcadero in San Francisco. In 2010, private funds and donated union labor helped build those ferry bocce courts.
Janet Kirk explains the allure of bocce: “It’s a very simple game. It takes five minutes to learn, but a lifetime to perfect.”
How’s she doing with that?
“I’m working on it,” she said. “It’s totally engrossing to me. I just love it.”
Kirk, a retired teacher, also plays pickleball, used to play tennis and is learning golf. In fact, many of the same skills in golf are necessary in bocce. It also shares elements of shuffleboard and croquet.
Scott and Jenny Schultz playing bocce ball during dinner service at Campo Fina restaurant in Healdsburg. (Photo by Erik Castro)
The game requires good judgment of distance, an eye to spot contours and rough spots on the court’s surface, the ability to make a quick strategic choice and the proper psychological frame of mind.
That last part runs the gamut in bocce leagues, players say.
There are players with an adult beverage in hand, others with a steely eye bent on knocking an opponent’s ball out of the way.
Some get a little raucous and do some mild trash-talking. But most, it seems, simply enjoy the camaraderie and good-natured battles to see which team can score 12 points first.
And while some old-time Italians may have some serious spinning abilities that boggle a rookie’s mind, players say no one can claim they’ve truly mastered the game.
“It’s a game that goes back to ancient Egypt, yet still, to this day, we are still figuring out ways to work it,” said Al Ferrando of Petaluma.
Ferrando, who says he is “Italian, but only on my mother and father’s side,” was enthralled with the game from early on.
He picked up a set of balls at a thrift store a few years ago and began playing. He ran into Susan and Tony Cole, leaders of the Sonoma County Bocce Federation, who turned him on to the Santa Rosa league.
Ferrando was hooked. His whole family got involved, and he even built a court in his backyard.
While bocce can get intense sometimes, most players keep it light, knowing there is an element of chance involved.
“Donna fortuna (lady luck) has a lot to do with it,” Ferrando reasons.
“There is the pull action, the lawn bowling action, the bowling action, a little croquet,” he said, “all this devious machinating going on trying to get to that bloody little pallino.”
There is no age limit — upper or lower — for the bocce players.
Many seniors play the game for relaxation and exercise, while kids seem to pick it up naturally.
“It’s a game where a grandson can play his grandpa on equal footing,” said Ken Vignati of Santa Rosa.
“It’s not a game of power. It’s a game of finesse.”
Vignati plays from his wheelchair, which he jokes may give him an advantage.
“The idea is not to lift the ball too high. You throw low and close to the ground, which is good for me,” he said.
“You just have to throw the ball straight and follow through.”
Mike Franchetti played petanque while he was traveling in France and joined the Juilliard Park league about eight years ago with his adult son.
“It’s fun to meet people and have a good time, play competitively, make friends. All those things,” he said. “And I get a pretty good roll every now and again, too.”
A bocce ball court and lawn sculpture at The Mulberry House garden in Sonoma. (Photo by Christopher Chung)
Bocce’s popularity in Sonoma County is attributed to Monty Montague, the founder of TeeVax appliance store.
Montague helped revitalize Railroad Square and the West End, and was an enthusiastic fan of both bocce and petanque.
He helped the West End Neighborhood Association in its early days and joined the group at its first West End Bocce Nights in the late 1990s at DeMeo Park.
Montague also led the effort to have the city build the courts at Juilliard. Because of the sport’s growing popularity, two more courts were added two seasons ago.
Petaluma also has city-maintained courts at Leghorns Park on Sonoma Mountain Parkway, and Sonoma has petanque fields.
Bocce players can roll a few games and raise money for a good cause in Petaluma. The 2016 Bocce Ball-A-Palooza to benefit Mentor Me is scheduled for Oct. 16.
That popular annual event is held at a private residence and includes pizza, beverages and an affogato dessert bar.
Santa Rosa’s leagues also host fundraisers for Special Olympics, the Council on Aging and diabetes research.
For a less structured bit of bocce fun, dozens of wineries and restaurants throughout Sonoma County have courts where diners play while they wait for dinner or during a picnic lunch.
Asked why he’s so enamored with the sport, Ferrando paused for a moment between games at Juilliard Park.
“Bocce really puts you in a playful mood,” he said. “It brings out the fun-loving nature in everyone.”
Molcajete Mixto is a hot stone bowl filed with steak, prawns, chicken, grilled cactus, queso fresco, roasted chillies, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. (Photo by Beth Schlanker)
Molcajete Mixto, a hot stone bowl filed with steak, prawns, chicken, grilled cactus, queso fresco, roasted chillies, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms, at Mi Terra Mexican Restaurant in Santa Rosa.
I’ll always remember the first time I tasted molcajete, served at an authentic Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale many years ago. It was a marvel to me, because it referred not to the ancient, stone mortar and pestle used to grind things like Latin American chiles and spices, but to a savory stew.
This molcajete, made of meats, seafood, chiles, cactus and vegetables in a mouthwatering red broth, was served in a molcajete, the basalt tureen that is prized because it retains its volcanic heat for the long time it takes to finish such a hearty dish.
Natasha Wawiluk sips on a Pina Chavela made with beer, Clamato and spices during lunch with her mother at Mi Terra Mexican Restaurant in Santa Rosa.
I enjoyed another memorable molcajete a few years later, this time in a fancy beachfront restaurant in Cabo. It was even better, brimming with strips of arrachera steak and chicken, chunks of fried panela cheese, tiny whole charred onions still on the stem like holiday ornaments, charred whole mild peppers and slender rafts of grilled zucchini stuffed with chorizo. The goodies were bathed in a simmering salsa borracha (drunken sauce) of chiles and beer, waiting to be bundled up in lacy thin corn tortillas.
The Sea of Cortez surf thudded on the sand, and a whale lazed its way past, impossibly close to shore. I felt I had found one of the world’s perfect foods.
Are such memories part of the reason the molcajete at Mi Tierra in Santa Rosa makes me so happy? It’s excellent, though rather than crashing waves, I am serenaded by traffic rumbling past the endlessly under-construction intersection of Sebastopol and Stony Point roads.
Mojarra a la Diabla, a whole fried fish with onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and Diabla sauce, served with rice and beans at Mi Terra in Santa Rosa.
We sit in a tiny, narrow shoe box just a sidewalk away from the street — perhaps 30 seats inside and 50 on the tile patio, framed by a white picket fence and hung with Modelo beer flags. The prettiest parts are the landscape murals on the walls and the colorfully painted wood Plaza Tequila chairs outside.
And frankly, there are many good Mexican restaurants in the immediate area. Homemade chips and salsas here are fine, and they’re free. Burritos, street tacos, enchiladas and tamales are good, if not remarkable, and service is friendly enough, though often rushed.
Yet this taqueria shines with more complicated dishes like that marvelous molcajete ($20.95).
The meats are generous and flavorful, with firm, cilantro-imbued shrimp; tender strips of steak and chicken; and two thick links of moist chorizo in an appealing charred black crust that soaks up the deep red, spicy broth.
There are braised sweet onion petals, sliced mushrooms, juicy tomato chunks and a fan of slippery grilled sour-crisp nopales that drapes over the side of the rock bowl like a wilted flower. At the center is a big slab of creamy panela cheese, and on the side are rice and beans and flour tortillas handmade by a lady working a hot grill on the patio. The dish is a delight, and easily feeds two.
A Pina Chelada is a cocktail made with beer, Clamato and spices, then garnished with fruit dusted in chili.
Locals likely know the Mi Tierra property, even if they don’t know the name. Originally, the spot was called Pepe’s, a burrito landmark since 1986 that moved seven years ago to much larger digs a few blocks east. Then, for about a year, the place languished as the sad little Don Pedro’s Mexican restaurant before the Magana family took over and spruced things up.
Somehow, the closet-size kitchen now masters a menu of more than 60 entrées, ranging from juicy steak alambre topped with chorizo, crisp bacon, vegetables and molten jack cheese ($17.95), to an enormous plate of succulent pollo con crema ($17.95), the chicken strips coated in a creamy brown sauce sporting heat that sneaks up on me after a few bites.
Rather than wasting time with an everyday shredded beef taco ($2.95), I pick the flesh off the fine bones for mojarra a la diabla, a whole, crispy fried tilapia smothered in onions, bell peppers, tomato, mushrooms and a fiery chile sauce ($17.95).
Braulia Jaimes makes homemade tortillas each weekend at Mi Terra.
I wash it down with a michelada of beer, lime juice, spices and peppers garnished with chile-salt dusted lime, orange, jicama and cucumber, served in a real, carved out pineapple ($10.95).
A plato Cancun arrives with lots of shrimp tossed with mushrooms, green onion and tomatoes and melted queso over rice ($18.95), while camarones jarochos are more than I could ever finish in one sitting.
The sautéed shrimp, octopus, scallops, white fish, calamari and crab leg are bathed in red sauce jazzed with chile de arbol, set on a bed of rice and finished with a mantle of jack cheese that I scoop up with tortilla chips ($18.95).
Pastor-style fans will be happy here, too, as the tortilla lady also runs a rotisserie in the evenings, slicing the pineapple-chile marinated pork to order.
Like most of the specialties, it’s much better than the often-dry carnitas, or bland chicken burritos that you can get stuffed with French fries “California style” ($9.95).
Me? I’ll have more molcajete, please.
Mi Terra, 2000 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa, (707) 546-1777, mitierramex.com
9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
In a totally horrifying food embarrassment that rivals the quesadilla maker and bacon bowl comes the Chork, a chopstick and fork hybrid that’s both and neither.
Panda Express recently announced that it will be trying out the bright red, plastic utensils that can be used as awkward looking chopsticks, “cheaters” (chopsticks that don’t require any experience to use) or a ridiculous looking fork.
Oh, goodie!
Okay, so I have a thing about chopsticks. I encouraged my kids to learn how to use them as toddlers. It’s a transferable skill, you can use it on a resume, and you don’t look like a total pleeb when you go to sushi restaurants. Come on America!
Made by a Salt Lake City company called Brown Innovation Group, they’re $7.99 for 12, should you chose to buy them for yourself, despite my disdain for you.
The Chork!
Here’s why I hate The Chork already.
1. Learn to use chopsticks: It’s not that hard, and with about five minutes of practice, I promise you can get it. Billions of people use them without incident, daily!
2. Make a choice: If you can’t deal with chopsticks, use a fork. It’s okay.
3. It’s like those sushi rolls with all the mayonnaise and fried stuff: I’m all for American ingenuity, but dude, sometimes it’s nice to just appreciate the beauty of simplicity. Like plain old nigiri, or you know, chopsticks.
4. “Pinchers” aren’t chopsticks: The idea is to help people learn to use chopsticks by creating a sort of tweezer effect. That’s not going to help anyone learn, since it’s a totally different thing. Hello?
5. It’s so American: I love ‘merica. I do. But not every perceived problem needs a solution. Maybe the world would take us a little more seriously if we put down our forks and raised a chopstick in solidarity once in a while.
6. They’re made of polystyrene (#6 recycling) which isn’t known for its recycling ease. Polystyrene foam is banned in SF, and most curbside recycling won’t accept it. Wooden chopsticks are compostable. Just sayin’.
7. What am I supposed to do with all that time I spend rubbing my chopsticks together to get off the splinters?
Am I just being a grump, or are these as idiotic as they seem? Now, get off my lawn!!
Did you know? There are several kinds of chopsticks used in Asia. (See them all here)
Japanese: Typically have a pointed end and are made of finer wood or bamboo. Often at higher end sushi spots here in America, regulars will bring a personal set left at the restaurant.
Korean: Often made of metal, and decorated
Vietnamese: Long chopsticks, usually blunt point
China: The most variable, but long, a bit thicker and usually wood.
Salmon Creek Ranch, a working ranch with a treehouse that will soon be rented out. Rope bridges leading to the treehouse. (Chris Hardy)
Salmon Creek Ranch, a working ranch with a treehouse that will soon be rented out. Rope bridges leading to the treehouse. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
From 50 feet above the ground, in a treehouse known as the Eagle’s Nest, there is a rare view of a very special part of Sonoma: the forest canopy nestled in the coastal range above Bodega Bay.
With no sound except for the rustling of leaves and occasional raven’s caw, one can, when the wind blows just right, hear the roar of waves crashing on the shore 2 miles to the west. In the distance to the north, an opening in the canopy reveals a gently sloping meadow, part of Bodega Pastures, where Hazel Flett raises sheep for meat and wool.
The Eagle’s Nest is located on the 400-acre working farm known as Salmon Creek Ranch, founded by John and Lesley Brabyn in 2007. Best known for its duck eggs, goat meat and grass-fed Scottish Highland beef, Salmon Creek Ranch is certified organic and gently maintained.
Salmon Creek Ranch, a working ranch with a treehouse that will soon be rented out. One of the campgrounds on the property. (Photo by Chris Hardy)
“We want to leave the forest and the forest floor in as good or better shape than when we arrived,” Lesley said of the land she loves. There are a few campsites (reservations required) in a large meadow, a spectacular natural foxglove hedge on one of the property’s winding pathways, and an on-site farmstand, yet the property is neither manicured nor manipulated. The Brabyns and the animals they care for live lightly on the land.
The Eagle’s Nest is a short, pleasant walk from the heart of the ranch, where Anatolian shepherd dogs watch over the ducks and goats. In a spacious kennel adjacent to the little farmhouse where the Brabyns live, Lesley breeds champion salukis, dignified, long-legged dogs with keen eyesight and blinding speed. Undulating pathways weave through fragrant bay laurel trees, ferns, immense redwoods and towering Douglas firs, with a deciduous tree here and there sporting a coat of vibrant green moss as a gentle mist falls.
Salmon Creek Ranch, a working ranch with a treehouse that will soon be rented out. Lesley Brabyn with her flock of goats . (Chris Hardy)
Suddenly, the treehouse is there, its iron-red spiral staircase and two wavering footbridges overhead. From below, the swaying bridges seem frighteningly high and terribly fragile. But the staircase that leads to them is solid steel and the bridges are outfitted with equally strong steel cables. It’s not for those afraid of heights, although the Brabyns said engineers who inspected the treehouse deemed it, the staircase and bridges as structurally sound.
The treehouse stands much as it did the day the Brabyns arrived, but renovations will transform it into a beautifully appointed retreat that guests can book by next spring, possibly sooner. The Eagle’s Nest was built by brothers Jay and Guy Holland and their father, Jack Holland, in the 1980s, at about the same time the brothers launched their high-end leather goods company, Mulholland Leather, in Berkeley. Their products range from money clips, wallets and travel bags, to furniture and interiors for L.L. Bean Range Rovers. At the time, the nest was a posh gentlemen’s lair furnished with goods from the company including cozy chairs made of hand-glazed saddle leather.
Salmon Creek Ranch, a working ranch with a treehouse that will soon be rented out. Lesley Brabyn feeding the cattle. (Chris Hardy)
During the day, it served as an oce, a place to catch up on paperwork while absorbing the spectacular view. In the evenings, the men entertained friends with Scotch on the rocks, and steaks marinated in vodka and cooked on a tiny propane grill attached to the deck’s railing. The grill remains today.
The octagonal hideaway is constructed of steel, cedar, canvas, leather and glass around an enormous Douglas fir that stretches beyond the treehouse’s corrugated aluminum roof. A 100-square-foot deck wraps around the northern half of the structure, with two sets of French doors, one on either side of the tree, that open into the 150-square-foot interior. Each panel of the octagon has a large window, and when the canvas coverings are raised and secured with leather belts, there is a sense of expansiveness, as if you’re nestled into the vast forest itself and not a tiny dwelling.
Salmon Creek Ranch, a working ranch with a treehouse that will soon be rented out. Jocelyn Brabyn herding ducks. (Chris Hardy)
As plush as the nest once was and surely will be again, it’s not currently wired for electricity and there is no running water, bathroom facilities nor heat. The Hollands used lamp oil for light and heat, but installing a small solar panel is an option for the Brabyns.
The spiral staircase, close in color to the Golden Gate Bridge, was built and installed by Stocklin Iron, a Santa Rosa company that makes about 400 staircases a year. The Eagle’s Nest staircase is anchored by several feet of concrete set deep into in the forest floor.
The Range Rover connection runs more deeply than just a treehouse and the men who built it. As a real estate agent was showing the property to the Brabyns, she mentioned that Range Rover held training sessions at Salmon Creek and that the land had hosted a Range Rover Trek event in 1999. As she spoke, she didn’t know that John is a Range Rover aficionado. After countless off-road adventures that included learning to fix the vehicle in many out-of-the-way locations, he launched a website, rangerovers.net, in 1997. What began as a hobby, a way to share his expertise with other Range Rover owners, grew into a successful commercial venture. The site, which he sold several years ago, thrives, with nearly 10,000 daily visits and more than 1 million page views each month.
Salmon Creek Ranch, a working ranch with a treehouse that will soon be rented out. Lesley Brabyn walks across one of the rope bridges to the tree house. (Chris Hardy)
An engineer by profession, he is the CEO of Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco. Lesley earned a psychology degree from Stanford University and founded the Asthma Education Council, which she headed for more than a decade. Today, she manages the ranch. Their son, Trevor, recently received a master’s degree in history from the University of Michigan and plans a career as a college professor. Their daughter, Jocelyn, the face of Salmon Creek Ranch at farmers markets, is working on a master’s in anthropology at Sonoma State University.
Once the Eagle’s Nest is ready for visitors, they will be treated to a parade of wildlife from the forest below to the skies above. For several years, the Audubon Society has included Salmon Creek Ranch in its Christmas bird count, with more than two dozen species identified. When it comes to life on the ground, mice, rats, gophers, snakes, bobcats, coyotes, badgers, foxes, mountain lions, deer and more make their home here. Every fall, a great blue heron arrives and lingers for a few weeks, feeding on gophers.
The Brabyns did not purchase the property directly from the Hollands, but rather a subsequent owner. For several decades, the land was leased for cattle grazing, though it had once been a working dairy.
Because of its out-of-the-way location, the treehouse is easy to overlook, and, if you’re not an adventurous, natureloving sort, you might not find a reason to traverse the staircase and footbridges. The nest so easily could have begun a long process of entropy, had the Brabyns not happened upon the place. Call it coincidence, serendipity, synchronicity or even magic — something about the land that would become Salmon Creek Ranch called to the Brabyns.
After living in Mill Valley in Marin County for more than 20 years, they had grown restless. Both came from farming families and they wanted land, they wanted a ranch. After searching the world, including in John’s native New Zealand, they found their little patch of Sonoma paradise in Bodega.
“It’s a very special place,“ Lesley said as she led the way across the footbridges and down the staircase to the forest floor. “It has everything we could ever want and we feel so very blessed to be here.”
Salmon Creek Ranch, 1400 Bay Hill Road, Bodega, 707-876-1808, salmoncreekranch.com
A new school year is just around the corner, timed to the gradual winding down of summer, the arrival of cooler temperatures and (hopefully) rain. But don’t despair. Warm summer nights still beckon, offering some of the best outdoor adventures of the year.
Swim under starlit skies at a pool on the grounds of an opulent Geyserville winery.
Glide across Tomales Bay, each stroke of the paddle sparking a magical glow in the water.
Or do as Ginny Fifield did last August, and go stargazing at remote Modini Mayacamas Preserves east of Healdsburg. “The stars just fill up the sky. It’s beautiful. Stunning,” Fifield said.
Sundown is when things can get really interesting. Following are just a few of the many possibilities for exploring the dark.
Nighttime Kayak Tours
Late summer is one of the best times to observe the strange and wonderful sight of organisms glowing in the waters of Tomales Bay. The phenomena, known as bioluminescence, is caused by chemical reactions, most commonly in single-cell algae known as dinoflagellates.
“When you dip your paddle into the water, they light up. If you take a stroke, it creates eddies and becomes swirls of light. It’s endless entertainment,” said John Kelly, director of conservation science at Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Cypress Grove Research Center.
Several companies offer nighttime kayak tours of the bay to enjoy the spectacle. They include Blue Waters Kayaking, (415) 669-2600, and Point Reyes Outdoors, (415) 663-8192.
Full-Moon Hike at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
Sugarloaf will be the setting Aug. 18 for a full-moon hike that circles the Vista trail loop, a distance of approximately four miles. Hikers are asked to meet at 6:15 p.m. at the park’s day-use parking lot. Bring a flashlight or headlamp, bug spray, a trail snack, water bottle, camera and layers to keep warm when the sun goes down. Cost is $10.
Modini Mayacamas Preserves Stargazing Event
On any given day, the 3,000-acre Modini Mayacamas Preserves feels much farther removed from the city of Healdsburg than the 15-mile distance by car would suggest.
At night, however, the landscape feels like a world apart.
Naya Barretto of Windsor took part in last summer’s stargazing event organized by Audubon Canyon Ranch, which owns the preserves. She and her family, including two young stepsons, drove up to the lookout spot along winding Pine Flat Road. Stepping out of their car, the family was greeted by the sound of coyotes howling.
“It was a really cool experience, like being in their environment,” Barretto said.
The event was timed to the Perseids meteor shower, and members of the Sonoma County Astronomical Society were on hand with high-powered telescopes. Fifield, who is a volunteer hike leader for Audubon Canyon Ranch, had never seen Modini at night prior to meeting up with the stargazers.
“Because there is so little light up there, it opens up the universe,” she said.
David Self, a resource ecologist for the nonprofit agency, is leading a full-moon hike at the preserves Aug. 17. Hikers will summit Red Hill and then journey back along the mile-and-a-half trail, the path illuminated by moonlight.
For a different kind of underwater experience, Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville hosts Swimming Under the Stars.
As the moon rises over Alexander Valley, guests lounge poolside or take dips in the heated pool. The adults-only event costs $40 and tends to sell out quickly, said Rick Toyota the winery’s director hospitality.
The Robert Ferguson Observatory at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park also offers a variety of stargazing opportunities, including a night sky summer series focused on constellations, stars and deep sky objects.
The observatory will be open the night of Aug. 27 for a public star party.
Closer to civilization, volunteers will lead a twilight hike Aug. 12 at Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Bouverie Preserve near Glen Ellen. Hikers will explore a mixed evergreen forest, flower-carpeted oak woodland and rugged chaparral. Distances range from 2 to 5 miles.
Yes, Sonoma County is a world-class wine and food destination, a mecca that’s more than a match for Bordeaux, Burgundy and that valley just to the east that seems to get an undue share of attention. But Sonoma is greater than the sum of its wineries and restaurants.
The natural largesse of the land provides stellar outdoor recreational opportunities in the air, on land and at sea. So get out there. Burn some calories, get the heart pumping and stimulate the senses by exploring the Sonoma you may not know.
1. SKYDIVING
The best views of Sonoma County aren’t from the top of Mount Hood, or along Highway 1 between Jenner and Gualala. They’re from the open door of a small plane circling above the Cloverdale Airport at 12,000 feet.
Below, vineyards, grasslands and oak forests form a tessellated pattern of Kelly green, viridian and umber, and the Russian River cuts a sinuous path to the sea. To the south, Mount Tamalpais and the San Francisco skyline are visible. Lake Sonoma is just to the west, and beyond that are redwood forests that end at the cusp of the blue Pacific. Clear Lake, smooth and serene, lies to the northeast, and far to the north the shining white summit of Mount Shasta can be seen.
It’s a splendid vista, and one that demands some appreciative contemplation. But you don’t have time for that, because you’re harnessed to some guy who insists on leaping out of the plane, and then you’re plummeting in free fall toward the terrain you were admiring just milliseconds ago, and the wind is roaring in your ears and buffeting your face, and maybe you can be forgiven if your adrenaline redlines and you howl like a banshee.
Not to worry, though. The person you’re clipped to is a consummate skydiving professional, and such tandem jumps are as routine to him as walking the dog is for the rest of us. Following the instructions you received prior to boarding the plane, you bend your knees, keep your feet up, maintain a stable position, and — you’re flying.
That’s the distinct impression, anyway.
Actually, you’re falling to the ground like one of the balls Galileo dropped from the Tower of Pisa, but you feel as if you’re soaring like a mighty albatross. It’s an uncanny illusion, one that’s broken only when your jumpmaster deploys his parachute, you’re snapped back into the realm of gravity and descend gently to the drop zone.
Enjoy the rush enough to try it on your own? Sign up for accelerated free-fall instruction that will have you making your first solo jump after an eight-hour course. Prices for tandem skydives range from $169 to $249, depending on the altitude of the jump.
Of course, there are ways to truly soar like a bird, no engines or rotors required. Hang gliding and paragliding are both avidly pursued by a relatively small but dedicated cadre of Sonoma adventure enthusiasts. In large part that’s because the Sonoma Coast has the sports’ prerequisites in abundance: bluffs and reliable onshore winds.
Gliders need the bluffs from which to launch themselves cleanly into the void, and the wind to push them aloft. From that point, assuming the necessary skills, it’s simply a matter of coasting from one updraft to the next to maintain altitude. Truly epic flights are possible: Scot Huber of the Sonoma Wings Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club soared in his hang glider from Mount St. Helena to Red Bluff, literally 108 miles as the crow — and humans — fly.
Paragliding Practice at Doran Beach Regional Park. (Photo by John Burgess)
That said, you just don’t strap on a harness beneath a wing and launch yourself into space. Hang gliding and paragliding practitioners are true pilots, but no government certification is required; the sport is self-regulating. Still, lessons are, for obvious reasons, essential. Many gliding associations offer tandem flights, a great way to determine whether the sport is for you.
The main difference between hang gliding and paragliding is the construction of the wings. Hang-glider wings are fixed, and paragliders have flexible, parachute-like wings. Paragliders are easier to master than hang gliders, but hang gliders offer superior flight performance.
Website sonomawings.com has information on sites, conditions, meetings, membership, equipment dealers and lessons.
Zoe Ingram rides a zipline through the redwoods at Challenge Sonoma Adventures Ropes Course in Glen Ellen. (Photo by Christopher Chung)
3. ZIP LINES
You can plummet like a peregrine falcon while skydiving and soar like an eagle in a biplane. So how about juking through the trees like a goshawk? Sonoma Canopy Tours in Occidental provides the means. The company offers two-and-a-half-hour guided tours of the canopy of west county’s magnificent redwood forest. Take it as gospel: Hurtling through the redwoods at treetop level at 25 mph is far different than merely strolling through them.
Originally developed as a means for conducting research in rainforest canopies, zip lining has grown into a popular recreational pursuit. It provides a significant jolt of adrenaline, but unlike solo skydiving, whitewater kayaking or rock climbing, it requires no real training, as long as a qualified guide is present. Simply follow instructions, clip onto the line, and, well, zip.
Sarah Chou lets out a yell as she careens down a zipline at the ropes course in Eldridge, near Glen Ellen. (Photo by Christopher Chung)
Sonoma Canopy Tours maintains seven zip lines, one more than 800 feet long. Visitors can also cross two skybridges, rappel from an 80-foot redwood, and climb a spiral tree-branch staircase. There are packages: Day Flight, Night Flight and Challenger. Completing the Day Flight course is recommended before signing up for the more demanding Challenger, but not required. The Night Flight course provides an arresting experience of the nocturnal forest and a rare perspective of a night sky largely unaffected by light pollution. Guides point out the constellations.
Reservations are required. Day and Challenger flights are $99 for adults and $69 for those 10-17 ($109 and $79, respectively, on weekends). Seniors zip for $89 on weekdays and $99 on weekends. Night Flights are offered Friday through Sunday, at $99 for all ages.
If jumping out of an airplane seems extreme, yet a bird’s-eye view of Sonoma is still appealing, a biplane ride might be just the ticket. Biplanes fly low and slow, and their open cockpits afford unparalleled visibility. Plus there’s something about the radial engine coming to life with a stuttering cough, and feeling the plane shed the surly bonds of earth, that harkens pleasantly to the golden age of aviation between World Wars I and II and is deeply thrilling.
The man to talk to about biplane rides is “Diamond Bob” Berwick of Coastal Air Tours at Skypark Airport in Sonoma. Berwick takes clients up in his lovingly maintained Travel Air, a rugged little craft designed and produced by aviation demigods Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman.
The Travel Air was state of the art for high-end passenger service in 1926, and it is as much a feature of Coastal Air Tours as the stunning panorama of Sonoma Valley, the Mayacamas and San Pablo Bay that scrolls beneath the plane during flights. Berwick adjusts his flight plans to passenger desires, offering everything from 30-minute transits over the valley to extended customized flights.
The standard half-hour Wine Country Tour costs $175 for a single passenger; a second passenger flies for $95. Customized tours start at $175. Berwick also offers an Over the Moon package for $875 per couple, which includes a 30-minute flight, wine tastings and a gourmet picnic.
Walking is the most basic of physical exercises, and perhaps also the most enjoyable — at least when you’re exploring Sonoma’s public lands. There are 52 regional and state parks in the county, protecting a total of 57,204 acres and supporting 175 miles of trail. The terrain varies from coastal prairie to redwood forest, flowerspangled grasslands to oak savanna. It’s all beautiful at all times of the year, making a pair of hiking boots a prerequisite for anyone eager to explore Sonoma.
View in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. (Photo by Alvin Jornada)
In Sonoma Valley, two parks in particular warrant exploration: Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open SpacePreserve. Conveniently located near Kenwood, Sugarloaf encompasses the eponymous ridge and a generous portion of the surrounding wildlands. The park’s 5,100 acres afford a near-wilderness experience, with 25 miles of trails wending through mixed hardwood forests, beneath dramatic rock outcroppings and across oak savannas and open meadows.
During spring and early summer, the wildflower displays on the upper-elevation meadows can be extravagant, and the views are always spectacular. The park also harbors a seasonal 25-foot waterfall on the headwaters of Sonoma Creek, best viewed during winter and early spring. The trails are negotiable for any reasonably fit person, and range from easy to moderate. Wildlife is abundant, including black-tailed deer, wild turkeys, gray foxes, coyotes, bobcats and cougars.
North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve. (Photo by John Burgess)
Across Sonoma Valley and southwest of Sugarloaf Ridge lies Sonoma Mountain. Though much of the mountain is in private hands, a long and complex negotiation involving key land acquisitions and easements recently resulted in the opening of the county’s newest public holding, the North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve.
The park’s centerpiece is a 4.5-mile trail that skirts the flank of the mountain at a gentle grade, traversing a variety of ecosystems: deep redwood forest, bay-laurel and blackoak woodlands, open meadow and seasonal wetlands. As with Sugarloaf, it supports robust wildlife populations, and its woodlands are a favorite venue for birders, especially during the fall songbird migration.
5297 Sonoma Mountain Road, Santa Rosa, 707-565-2041, parks.
Visit our outdoors section for some hiking inspiration or click on “parks A-Z” in the drop-down menu for an alphabetical list. Parking fees are $7 a vehicle.
6. CAMPING
The interior regions have their share of campgrounds — Annadel State Park, Liberty Glen Campground at Lake Sonoma, the Austin Creek Recreation Area, even a KOA Campground in Cloverdale. Yet when it comes to camping here, it’s really about the coast.
Seven public campgrounds are strung along Highway 1 from Bodega Bay to Gualala, all managed by the Sonoma County Department of Regional Parks or the California Department of Parks and Recreation. All are highly recommended, simply because they have the nonpareil Sonoma Coast in common. All provide easy access to fine beaches, craggy and dramatic headlands, and superb trail systems.
Moreover, the coast is the traditional getaway for locals during those summer and early fall days when a high pressure ridge settles over the inland regions and temperatures spike to three digits. It’s always cooler at the coast, and if the fog is rolling in, it can be downright chilly. For that reason, gear should include varying layers of clothing for each camper; temperatures can and do shift rapidly.
Sonoma County campers enjoy the sunset on the Sonoma Coast. (Photo by John Burgess)
By most reckonings, the best time for coastal camping is mid-September through October. The summer crowds have dispersed and the weather generally is optimal. Coastal upwelling usually slackens by September, so daytime temperatures are mild and evenings crisp. Advance reservations are essential, particularly on weekends throughout the red abalone season, April through June and August through November.
The California Department of Parks and Recreation manages campgrounds at Sonoma Coast State Park and Salt Point State Park. The Sonoma County Department of Regional Parks oversees Gualala Point Regional Park, Stillwater Cove Regional Park, Doran Regional Park and Westside Regional Park.
Sonoma is mountain biking country. Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve, Shiloh Ranch Regional Park near Windsor and Joe Rodota Trail between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol offer excellent opportunities on varied terrain.
But one park stands out from the rest, a destination for the most dedicated and mudspattered- fat-tire fanatics: Annadel State Park. It’s not solely Annadel’s size: 5,000 sprawling and lovely acres of woodland, chaparral and grassland, with a good-size lake thrown into the mix. Nor is it its easy accessibility, on the eastern outskirts of Santa Rosa. Nor is it the whopping 35 miles of trails. It’s the entire package.
There are some fairly long ascents at Annadel, but nothing to make a reasonably experienced rider cry “uncle.” Many of the trails, however, are technical and extremely rocky. It pays to pay attention, particularly on descents.
6201 Channel Drive, Santa Rosa, $7 parking fee per vehicle. (The park can also by accessed for free by hikers and bicyclists at several other points.)
8. SHORE FISHING
If you’re camping at the coast, or day-tripping at the beach, you might as well bring along some tackle. Sonoma’s offshore waters are renowned for salmon, rockfish, halibut and, far offshore, albacore, but the inshore fishing can be equally productive.
Cast off the beach at Salmon Creek near Bodega Bay for redtail and calico surf perch. Most people use surf-casting gear, but freshwater spinning reels and rods also will work, and the lighter tackle adds to the thrill of catching these moderate-size, fighting, delicious fish.
You’ll need enough weight on the line to keep the bait close to the bottom; piling worms, shrimp and sand crabs (which you can dig right where you fish) work well. Avoid squid, cut anchovies and clams as bait. Don’t throw out a shoulder trying for a long cast; surf perch tend to swim close to shore, near the first line of breakers. Fish the rip currents, identifiable by V-shaped breaks in the whitewater. The rips stir up the bottom, exposing small crustaceans and mollusks, drawing the fish.
A cooler sits full of salmon after a day of sport fishing on the “New Sea Angler” in Bodega Bay. (Photo by Beth Schlanker)
Want to hook something with more heft? Seek out the rocky headlands and coves for cabezon, kelp greenling, lingcod and grass rockfish. Surfcasting rod and reel, heavy line and substantial weights are called for, and be prepared to lose tackle in the rocks. Squid is a good choice for bait, as it’s rugged and stays on the hook in rough conditions.
Poke-poling is a specialized subset of rock fishing practiced by a handful of savvy aficionados along the Bodega Bay breakwaters and in protected coves during low tides. The gear is simple: a bamboo or fiberglass pole that has about 6 inches of tough wire leader and a big hook affixed to the end. Put a big gobbet of squid on the hook, and then gently stick the rod tip into holes and crevices among the rocks, where the dark water surges back and forth. Big monkey-faced eels (blennies, as biologists call them) and cabezon lurk there. Hauling a big fish through a small crack in the rocks is always an interesting exercise, but can have great rewards.
A valid California fishing license is required. Regulations for taking rockfish are complicated and change from year to year, so check current rules before fishing. The coast is beautiful, but it also can be unforgiving. People have died when swept away by large “sleeper” waves, so always keep an eye on the water when fishing from shore.
9. KAYAKING
Sonoma has some of the best sea kayaking in the country. Period. Launch sites are abundant, and it’s easy to set up a shuttle on Highway 1. Leave one car at the takeout, drive a second vehicle to the putin, and you’re set.
Then there’s the paddling environment: the wild and gorgeous Sonoma Coast. Paddling offshore parallel to the swells, you’re just another marine mammal. You’ll have plenty of company: harbor seals, sea lions, even a gray whale or two during the spring and fall migrations. And then there are the cormorants, pelicans and various gulls, all wheeling around the kayak, skreeking and mewing. Impressive as they are when viewed from the shore, the numerous sea stacks are magisterial when approached at sea level, with white and aquamarine waves curling against their mussel- and barnacle-encrusted flanks.
People float down the Russian River by various methods of transportation towards Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville. (Photo by Alvin Jornada)
Sea kayaks range from sit-on-top beamy craft to sleek, maneuverable closed-cockpit boats fitted with foot-operated rudders. Anglers and beginners prefer the first, while experienced paddlers often opt for the second. Any of the coastal parks are good places to launch and/or take out. Some paddlers undertake two- or three-day expeditions, paddling down the coast from one park to the next, stopping occasionally to jig for rockfish for the evening meal.
Sea kayaking is exhilarating, and occasionally a little dicey. Connect with experienced paddlers before heading out, or sign up for commercial training and tours.
The renowned point and reef breaks of Southern California and Hawaii create sculpted waves that can be ridden with — if not ease — skill and guts. But Sonoma’s surf mostly manifests as bonecrunching, closed-out beach breaks or chaotic wave trains slamming against the headlands.
And there are fearsome creatures to consider. Sonoma’s abundant seal rookeries draw great white sharks, the region’s No. 1 marine predator. A good rule of thumb is to avoid surfing any area where pinnipeds are present. It’s wise to keep clear of Goat Rock near the mouth of the Russian River for this reason, although the site does produce good waves with some regularity.
Nate Buck walks through the sand dunes by his home in Salmon Creek to go out for a surf session. (Photo by Conner Jay)
Locals harbor secret spots where the waves can be good under specific conditions. But as a rule, access is difficult and inside connections are necessary to know where and when to go, and how to get there.
There are two Sonoma spots, however, where access is easy and the waves are often, but not always, surfable: Salmon Creek Beach in Bodega Bay and nearby Doran Beach. Salmon Creek can degrade to frightening close-outs with big swells and onshore winds, but it sometimes produces lovely waves when offshore winds are from the east-southeast. Doran Beach is a good beginner’s beach when swells are moderate.
Bill Blaze, of Sebastopol, walks up the beach after surfing at Salmon Creek Beach. (Photo by Christopher Chung)
The best things about both beaches are the locals. Sonoma surfers tend to be easy-going, friendly and generous, unlike surfers in many areas to the south where the competition for each wave is fierce. There’s no “my wave” mentality here. More often than not, the attitude is, “After you.”
So Sonoma.
Salmon Creek Beach, Bodega Bay, Doran Regional Park, 2011 Doran Beach Road, Bodega Bay, 707-875-3540, parks.
Perfect wine storage was not uppermost in my mind when I moved into my first house on Nov. 1, 1973. But what I serendipitously had fallen into was a pitfall I did not know existed, a malady that has no known cure.
The house was on a hillside; the garage, below the living quarters, had a small door at the rear. Behind the door was nothing but the under-structure and the bare dirt of the hillside.
I had previously begun a rudimentary wine collection with two cases, so I purchased some circular terra cotta drainage tiles, pushed them into the earth under the house and put one bottle inside each tile.
And thus began a project that might best be explained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: wine collecting.
Collecting wine can be as addictive as any other mania and can lead to all sorts of problems. Men seem more prone to this than women, but one woman I knew was so dedicated to her collection that it nearly caused a divorce.
Is wine collecting something that sounds appealing? If you are among them, here are a few tips.
Constantly cool temperatures are essential. About 55 degrees is ideal year-round. Sixty in winter and 72 in the summer does not work. Wines simply age too quickly that way.
Keep all natural-cork finished wines on their sides. Screw-capped bottles and sparkling wines with real corks should be stood upright.
The cork in any natural cork-finished wine that reaches 10 years old may deteriorate or dry out. The two-pronged Ah-So cork extractor works better than the waiter’s corkscrew for such wines, and the new Durand cork-puller system is a good investment if you have a lot of older wine.
Don’t try to age inexpensive wine. Poor quality wine doesn’t get better with age. However, some closeouts can be found that deliver great flavors, such as dry riesling.
Buy only wines with which you have some experience. Not everyone will appreciate older barolos or petite sirahs.
Don’t assume all expensive wines will be great in a decade. Some are made for early consumption. Aging them is a waste of money and time.
