Northern California help

[Psymonds]

It all gets very confusing! The trees there are coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), which I believe are actually in the sequoia genus, while the giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are a different but related species found naturally in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Just noting that we Californians have the oldest, tallest and largest trees in the world, and those are all different and in different places... but all a few hours from my house.

 

[bcla]

Yes, good point. The brewery in Windsor offers a tour/tasting for around $20 which I thought was nicely done. The other location in Santa Rosa (they are about 10 miles apart) is just a pub/restaurant.

Their retail location in Santa Rosa isn’t a large scale production brewery although they might have several tanks for small scale beer making. The older production brewery in Santa Rosa is still there, although not open to the public. I’m not even sure where it’s located. But it’s got to be pretty small if the Windsor brewery quadrupled their total production capacity.

Addendum: it looks like their previous production brewery in Santa Rosa was shut down after they built the new brewery in Windsor.

 

[barkley]

But it's cheaper in Santa Rosa or American Canyon. American Canyon might just be 25 minutes to Youtville, and it's a pretty nice drive too.

just make SURE if you choose American Canyon that you confirm that the hotel you are booking at shows American Canyon as the physical address b/c some will use the name in their description along with 'gateway to the Napa Valley' when they are actually located in a historically VERY sketchy/high crime part of Vallejo.

I grew up in Napa, worked in hospitality there back in the day. I agree with others who suggest saving $$$ by staying elsewhere-also, the wineries are up valley so you will have to drive anyway. fall is a VERY popular time of year (the tree tunnel is stunning as are the vineyards) so book early. September can get pretty hot, I prefer mid to late October. I like the smaller towns/wineries-it's nice to wander through Calistoga, St. Helena, the town square in Sonoma. neat little shops and eateries. Napa proper (downtown) is undergoing a bunch of construction so I would avoid it and honestly it's mostly stores and hotels anymore.

my favorite place along the coast is a bit of drive and you would want to spend a night (or two) but it's wonderful-fort bragg (ever see the movie 'the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming'?-it was filmed there). rugged coastline, stunning redwood forests.