Category Archives{Insiders Guide}

Insider’s Guide to Sonoma

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Discover Sonoma’s Hidden Gem Wineries This Weekend

by careysweet3 days ago in Insiders Guide.0 Comments

The second annual Sonoma Valley Reserve event that takes place this weekend is much more than just a grand tasting at top wineries. The festival, running May 19 and 20, is actually an immersion experience, with 10 unique tours in full daytrips around the region. And more than just visiting wineries, the Reserve showcases a collection of coveted Sonoma Valley {…}

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Ticket, Quick! Savings on Sonoma Wine Country Weekend for Locals

by careysweet1 week ago in Insiders Guide.0 Comments

Pssst. Here’s an insider secret that’s sure to stir up an appetite. Sonoma Wine Country Weekend is coming up soon, over this Labor Day weekend – Aug. 31 through Sept. 2. It’s three non-stop days of food, wine and reveling at fabulous venues across Sonoma County. Every year, the lengthy line-up of winemaker dinners, lunches, winery barbecues, grand tasting and {…}

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Wine Flights Take New Meaning with Alaska Airlines

by careysweet2 weeks ago in Insiders Guide.0 Comments

I was flying to Los Angeles on Alaska Airlines the other week, reveling in the joy, ease and convenience of the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport. Seriously, it’s 20 minutes from my house (no two-hour commute to the Big City), we park literally next door to the terminal, then waltz in to check in with a real, smiling person. {…}

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Screening Dreams at the Fourth Annual Film Fest Petaluma

by careysweet2 weeks ago in Insiders Guide.0 Comments

The subjects are entirely different from one another. Yet whether they’re focusing on “an unusually cheery criminal,” or an exploration of “haiku, taiko, and persimmons,” the short films showcased at the fourth annual Film Fest Petaluma this Saturday use artful storytelling combined with animation, stop-motion, documentary, comedy and drama for award-winning cinematography. It all comes together May 5, for a {…}

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Spring Lake Regional Park

by SonomaSuzie3 weeks ago in Green, Insiders Guide.0 Comments

This month’s get-out-into-nature park pick is Spring Lake Regional Park. Tucked within the confines of the North Bay’s largest city, Santa Rosa, the 350-acre Spring Lake site offers an amazing diversity of activities for individuals and families alike. It’s a lovely place, guarded over by rising hills and generously endowed with a lake, ponds, oak woodlands, grasslands and meadows. In {…}

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Sonoma in Bloom – Where to Explore Spring Flowers

by careysweet1 month ago in Green, Insiders Guide.0 Comments

It doesn’t take much effort to enjoy the spectacular spring flowers of Sonoma. Just look around you, as you’re walking through any neighborhood, and enjoying a stroll along a forest, mountain, meadow or vineyard path. Or visit any of the region’s state parks, for a brilliant display rolling across the landscape like a hand-stitched tapestry. With the recent nourishing rains, {…}

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Some Country Flair Makes a Fabulous Statement

by careysweet1 month ago in Insiders Guide, Weddings.0 Comments

One bride got her photo taken with a horse, the two of them standing in a sun-dappled emerald green pasture, she in her long white dress and the noble equine decorated with wildflowers in its mane. Another couple posed atop a tractor, with baskets of heirloom apples all around and an orchard in the background. With America’s return to locavore {…}

Windsor and its popular Town Green is also the starting point of a variety of bike routes.

Tour of California and other Bike Rides Through Windsor

by secretlocal1 month ago in Insiders Guide.0 Comments

Windsor is not only a family friendly place to visit, it’s a cyclist’s dream – easy, moderate, and strenuous routes can challenge all riders, even the best. The beauty of the area and several difficulty levels show that’s why Windsor will be featured in the Amgen Tour of California on May 13. Diana Gilbert recently reviewed five routes that are {…}

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Avast, Mateys – Tall Ships Drop Anchor in Bodega Bay through the 9th

by careysweet1 month ago in Insiders Guide.1 Comment

If it looks like something is blocking out the sun in Bodega Bay through this weekend, you’re not imagining it. Yesterday, The Tall Ship Lady Washington set anchor at the Spud Point Marina (1818 Westshore Road, Bodega Bay), joining the Tall Ship Hawaiian Chieftain that arrived in the dark hours of Monday night. No, there’s no pirate invasion; the ships {…}

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Sonoma County’s “Ark of Taste” Foods

by SonomaSuzie1 month ago in Green, Insiders Guide.1 Comment

Did you know that four foods produced in Sonoma County are among 200 rare or endangered regional foods listed on the prestigious U.S. Ark of Taste? The Ark of Taste program is sponsored by Slow Food USA. Its motto is “Saving Cherished Foods, One Product at a Time.” Slow Food hopes that, if people learn about and eat Ark products, {…}