Tourism Sonoma County

There we were, in the middle of the afternoon at a graceful Victorian mansion called Madrona Manor, blowing $22 on two glasses of wine. My husband, C.P., selected a 1998 McCray Ridge Merlot; I tried a 1995 Kendall-Jackson reserve Viognier. We trotted upstairs to sip in solitude next to the fireplace in our room. Not a bad welcome to Sonoma County. We're not wine country experts, not even wine experts.

There we were, in the middle of the afternoon at a graceful Victorian mansion called Madrona Manor, blowing $22 on two glasses of wine. My husband, C.P., selected a 1998 McCray Ridge Merlot; I tried a 1995 Kendall-Jackson reserve Viognier. We trotted upstairs to sip in solitude next to the fireplace in our room. Not a bad welcome to Sonoma County. We're not wine country experts, not even wine experts.

We were zipping north on Interstate 5, marveling at the spun-gold fields of the San Joaquin Valley, the two dogs snoring in the back of the car. As the fast-food stands at the Santa Nella offramp flashed by, the conversation veered to the reason why, late on a Friday afternoon, we were on our way to The Sea Ranch, a private development north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, where, friends assured us, the land was beautiful and the beaches dog-friendly.

We were zipping north on Interstate 5, marveling at the spun-gold fields of the San Joaquin Valley, the two dogs snoring in the back of the car. As the fast-food stands at the Santa Nella offramp flashed by, the conversation veered to the reason why, late on a Friday afternoon, we were on our way to The Sea Ranch, a private development north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, where, friends assured us, the land was beautiful and the beaches dog-friendly.