NAPA-SONOMA DELIGHTS PART 1 of 2

California's Wine Country offers enough wineries, roads and historic attractions to thin out a mob of visitors that grows each year. Spanish missions, famous authors and celebrities past and present, wine tours, superb golf and tennis, balloon rides, biking, fishing, boating, wonderful lodgings and great meals The list is longer than the 4th of July lines in from the Christian Brothers tasting rooms. So wise visitors plan ahead, reserve activities, lodgings and meals and schedule visits to avoid the crowds typical of warm summer weekends. One way to do this is to visit during winter; midweek tours also cut the crush. It seems a shame to rush.

Since there is so much to see in the Wine Country, you might want to visit each valley on a separate day or trip. It's quite impossible to cover either in less that a day. If you really enjoy wine tours and want to sample a good selection you might need two days. Add balloon tours, golf or tennis as Silverado, a canoe ride on the Russian River or a trip on the wine train and week might do the job.

History buffs need to add more time. While Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London certainly qualify as an odd couple with only writing in common, but this frail consumptive and blustering oyster pirate both lived in and loved the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, the center of California’s wine country. Stevenson’s SILVERADO SQUATTERS was an account of his stay in 1880. He honeymooned here in an abandoned bunkhouse on Mt. St. Helena that is now the Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. London loved the area so well he built Wolf House here; it burned just after completion.

More modern celebrities also share the valleys. Pat Paulson owns a winery. The Smothers Brothers and Robin Williams live here. So does Charles Schulz who built the ice rink in Petaluma so Charlie Brown’s creator would have a place to play senior hockey.

SONOMA VALLEY:

As elsewhere in California Spanish missionaries knew a good thing when they saw it. Mission San Francisco Solano de AKA Sonoma Mission, the north anchor of the chain along the coast of Alta California centers an eight-acre plaza now a state park.

The nearby Depot Park Museum and Sebastiani Indian artifacts exhibit introduce visitors to the history of the area. The General Mariano G. Vallejo Sonoma Home deserves a look too.

On warm days the ice cream parlor across the plaza from the mission offers a cool break. The Sonoma Grill and Bakery offers fresh bread and cheeses for al fresco lunch at winery picnic areas. A collection of arts and crafts shops delight shoppers who find quality goods from the many skilled craft persons in the area. Walking tours are available.

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