Author Archives: California Tours

The secret to a successful family vacation, as any parent knows, is variety. Balancing things the kids want to do, with adventures that will keep mom and dad loving life, is that sometimes elusive charm. It’s a truth no matter what thrilling part of the globe you’re tripping.

In Sonoma County, with more than a million acres to explore, there’s something to engage everyone from the tiniest traveler, to picky teenagers, to world-traveled adults looking forward to indulging in authentic Wine Country.

Here, landscapes brim in gorgeous diversity, with sandy beaches and rugged ocean cliff hiking trails beckoning, alongside grassy meadows tempting for picnics, lakes and ponds promising boating and fishing, and mountain trails perfect for hiking as they soar to scenic peaks amid lush forests.

In the many tiny towns anchored by relatively large city of Santa Rosa (172,000 pop.), there’s plenty for families to do indoors, as well, like ice skating year-round, visiting world class art galleries, and playing state-of-the-art arcades.

Certainly you could spend a week or more in Sonoma County and just scratch the surface of its many joys. But even a two-day getaway comes packed with delights the whole family can enjoy – all together!

Day 1

Fly into Sonoma County Airport (STS), right in the heart of the Santa Rosa vineyard region, and convenient as a connection from major hubs like Los Angeles, Seattle and Las Vegas.

Other options:

• San Francisco International Airport is only 90 minutes south. Enjoy the scenic drive with a photo stop at the north end of Golden Gate Bridge.
• Sacramento International Airport is just over an hour northwest with convenient I-80W access.

Head first to the storybook town of Occidental, and check into the Inn at Occidental, a cozy, 28 room retreat nestled at the base of a beautiful redwood forested hillside that’s perfect for letting kids burn off steam with Mother Nature. Theme rooms are fun, like the Safari suite boasting a giraffe mural. There’s a seasonal swimming pool, and you’re just steps from the Village’s restaurants, Friday Night Farmers Market, Performing Arts Center, and eclectic shops like Mad Hatter Toys, or Hand Goods, offering a fine selections of locally-crafted works such as pottery, hand knits and jewelry.

Other options:

• Occidental Hotel
• Occidental Guest House Rentals
• The upscale Vintner’s Inn of Santa Rosa

After a morning touring the village, enjoy lunch at the Union Hotel, founded as a railroad saloon and boarding house in 1879, and now home to a lovely Italian café, bakery and pizzeria. Run by the property’s owners since 1925, the café is pure charm, from the red-checkered tablecloth tables set with candles dripping over Chianti bottles, portraits of the original owners on the walls, and whimsical touches like a jukebox. Favorites include chicken Parm, grilled rib eye with mushrooms, Margherita pizza, a mouthwatering spaghetti/ravioli combo smothered in Bolognese, and an appealing kids menu.

Other options:

• El Mariachi Café, an ultra-casual Mexican joint with first-rate burritos
• The farm-to-table, countryside Corks at Russian River Vineyards
• The iconic Russian River Pub for great burgers and patio dining

Next, amble over to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in nearby Guerneville. This 805-acre oasis is a quiet place for a leisurely stroll among towering coast redwood trees. As huge as the park is, it’s easy to navigate, over the mostly flat, mile-and-a-half long round trip Pioneer Nature Trail. Some of the most pop­u­lar trees include the Ici­cle Tree, with its mys­te­ri­ous “burl” for­ma­tions, the Colonel Arm­strong Tree, esti­mated to be over 1,400 years old, and the Par­son Jones Tree, towering to 350 feet (that’s taller than a football field is long).

Other options:

• East Ridge Trail for older kids, an easy 2.2 mile loop course with moderate climb
• A leisurely stroll along Johnson’s Beach
• Bird Walk Coastal Access Trail, Bodega

Downtown Guerneville offers plenty of amusement for everyone, as well, browsing eclectic toy stores, vintage shops and art galleries, and a romp at Johnson’s Beach, just beneath Guerneville’s entryway bridge. Here, you can lounge on the spotlessly clean river sandbar with rentable umbrellas and beach chairs, or on the water, meandering its gentle currents with by-the-hour canoes, kayaks and pedal boats.

Other options:

• Burke’s Canoe Trips self-guided canoe and kayak adventures on the Russian River
• Russian River Adventures

For dinner, Three Alarm Grill on Main Street satisfies everyone with its tasty prime rib specials, chicken pot pie, and the River Dog, an all beef Vienna hot dog wrapped in bacon, with BBQ sauce and fries.

Other options:

• Negri’s Original Italian Restaurant of Occidental, serving Italian classics since 1943
• The chef-driven Backyard of Forestville with potpie, fried chicken and steak frites

Finally, after the kids are tucked in at the hotel, mom and dad can head to Barley and Hops Tavern, to sip local craft beers, nibble on big, warm German pretzels dunked in spicy mustard, and groove to live music on weekends.

Day 2:

Welcome morning with a delicious breakfast at Howards Station Café, a quaint Victorian home-turned-restaurant complete with a dine-in porch. The menu is expansive, ranging from corned beef hash and homemade biscuits, to smoked salmon Florentine omelets, crab Benedict, and even tofu rancheros with soy cheese.

Other options:

• Wild Flour Bread’s hot-from-the-wood-fired-oven fresh artisanal loaves, scones and sticky buns plus coffee drinks
• Rocker Oysterfeller’s Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; charming Valley Ford

Fueled up, it’s time to zip over nearby Sonoma Canopy Tours, for zip-lining. The course wings you up to 25 miles per hour through an Occidental redwood forest, over a ravine 300-feet below, and along a creek. Part of the fun is just getting to the jump canopies, since eleven different platforms test your clambering skills, too, daring you to scale a skinny spiral staircase 30 feet up, and wobble across a 175-foot-long sky bridge.

Other options:

• Horseback riding at the 378-acre ocean view Chanselor Ranch overlooking Bodega Bay
• Water Treks EcoTours and Kayak Rentals, Jenner

Next, channel everyone’s energy  to Scandia Family Fun Center in Rohnert Park, near Santa Rosa. This is a kid’s fantasyland including two 18-hole miniature golf courses complete with tiny buildings, bridges, and waterways, 18 batting cages with slow pitch and fast pitch, bumper “blaster” boats equipped with water sprayers, a Lil’ Indy Raceway, and an indoor game arcade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By now, you’re hungry, so skip over to the new Amy’s Drive-Thru just up the street. It’s fast food with burgers, burritos and pizzas, but everything is purely vegetarian and made from scratch. You don’t even have to tell the kids – they won’t notice it’s not meat in the divine Amy’s Burger of two veggies-grains-mushrooms patties topped with double cheese, tomato, onion, Sonoma Brinery pickle, and Fred Sr.’s regular or spicy secret sauce all on a toasted bun.

Other options:

• Lombardi’s BBQ Deli with its expansive lawns for playing
• Filling, handcrafted casual Italian at Art’s Place

Scamper over to Petaluma now, for a complimentary (reservations, please) tour of Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory, the oldest and largest sticker company in the United States. You can admire some of the millions of stickers getting printed, plus there’s a sticker museum, a gift shop, and a class where kids — young and old — can decorate postcards using the signature stickers.

Next, head into nearby Santa Rosa, for a tour of the Charles M. Schulz Museum. The entire family surely adores Peanuts, and this is a true museum celebrating the longtime former Santa Rosa resident cartoonist. Spanning 27,000 square feet of whimsy and art, including about 7,000 original cartoons, it’s the largest collection in the world. The Peanuts crew was often seen skating in popular strips, so in tribute, Snoopy’s Home Ice operates year-round just around the corner from the museum, too, with open public skating and skate rental daily.

You’re ready to put up your feet for a bit by now, so check into your rooms at Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa in Santa Rosa. Newly remodeled luxury rooms attract modern guests for sleek fixtures in cozy palates of gold and cream, yet the property is still a beloved heritage destination for its stylish wood-trimmed rooms that once welcomed celebrities like Jayne Mansfield.

The low-slung style of dramatic stone and glass spans several wings of suites around a lavish pool and expansive gardens, now designated a Historic Landmark, and still 1950’s retro-chic marked by a

revolving, neon trimmed 50-foot tower capped with a spindly legged pink bird neon sign.

Bonus: all stays include a breakfast buffet and free wine tasting passes at a rainbow array of nearby wineries, while mom and dad will like the salsa dancing lessons in the ballroom, too.

Other options:

• The centrally located Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel
• Hillside Inn with kitchenettes, a swimming pool, and walk-to-shops/restaurants location

Finish for dinner at Flavor Bistro, located on Old Courthouse Square. This Cal-American bar and eatery is a see-and-be-seen destination for business folks, politicians, neighborhood regulars, and the occasional very lucky tourist who happens to discover a local (secret) treasure. Dinner is a particular jewel, starting with the extensive Sonoma-centric wine list, and luxurious entrées such as pan-roasted quail, center-cut short ribs, or roast duck in honey-balsamic reduction.

On Farmhouse Wednesdays, the kitchen sends out full, first-rate family style suppers with a glass of wine included, for a jaw dropping $18.95. That might mean chicken Parmigiana, creamy garlic potatoes, arugula pasta, winter veggies, sautéed spinach, Blue Lake beans, heirloom tomato soup, organic romaine salad in lemon-Romano dressing, warm stone oven bread with butter, and pear tart with Chantilly cream.

Other options:

• The family owned Mary’s Pizza Shack with excellent pastas and chicken Parmigiana, too

As you’re ready to fly home, keep this in mind: Alaska Airlines invites you to check up to a case of wine for free when you depart from the Sonoma County (STS) / Santa Rosa Airport.

Need more information, please visit sonomacounty.com.

If you are looking for a vacation package, please check out our Napa and Sonoma Valley Package, and start planning your next getaway!

Carey Sweet is a food, wine and travel journalist based in Sonoma County. You can read her work in the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Time Inc. publications, airline travel magazines, Gannett newspapers and numerous travel magazines and websites. Follow her on careysweet.com.

Next time you are in Ontario, be sure to say hello to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Just go to feel the vibe in these two opposite, but not opposing cities. While one is a busy metropolis touting culture and architecture, the other delivers on natural wonders stunning and powerful.

Toronto is the country’s largest city with over 2.6 million very busy Canadians. It operates as a financial nerve center as well as a cornerstone for filming movies, TV shows, and commercials.  Over the last few years, the city has grown into a hip destination with a food scene that rivals that of New York City.  It’s got a fantastic skyline of blocky high rises and buildings designed with unorthodox geometric shapes . Whereas the community of Niagara Falls is all about nature, you go to Toronto to dive into man-made treasures.

Be sure to visit the CN Tower,  the world’s second tallest at over 1,000 feet high, boasting clear glass floors, a 9,000-bottle wine cellar with Ontario wines,  an arcade, and a rotating restaurant. Note: CN stands for Canadian National and is designated as one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Those who hanker for an adrenaline rush should sign up for the Edgewalk and feel what it is like to be outside 116 stories above the ground. Yes, some folks think this is fun; others say it is crazy. During this excursion,  you are hooked to the CN Tower’s exterior and walk around on a platform for 30 minutes.

Feel more secure on the ground? Satisfy your shopping urges at the St. Lawrence Market to find over 100 vendors selling cheese, produce, meat, baked goods, and more.  It’s foodie eye candy at its best spread across three buildings.  Spend at least a couple hours meandering through the stalls. More than 200 years ago, the brick buildings served as a police station, a jail,  and then government offices.

Other must-sees in the area include the Royal Ontario Museum, the nation’s largest museum of natural history and world cultures.  The building itself with its geometric triangles and trapezoid architecture is worth the journey just to see it up close.  And folks cannot leave without paying homage to Casa Loma, an Edwardian castle built in the early 1900s.  Mysterious secret passageways, storied rooms, tunnels, blooming gardens brings out the imagination in everyone.

After all this hubbub and excitement, you are probably ready to dial it down, way down with a visit to Niagara Falls.  The city of Niagara Falls is much smaller with only a population of 82, 997.  It’s a cozy community covering only 82 square miles and is filled with hiking and walking trails. Bicycling is popular as well.

Popular neighborhoods include Lundy’s Lane, Fallsview Boulevard, and Clifton Hill.  Lundys Lane is dubbed as the town’s favorite ‘hood filled with more than 75 shops and boutiques and outlets, and more than 30 places for lodging. Kids will love Waves Waterpark.

The Fallsview Boulevard can be dizzying, I warn you.  This adult playground is populated with casinos and  posh restaurants. It’s billed as hip and happening, and you will get more than your fill of nightlife. Hotels include brand names such as Embassy Suites, Hilton, Holiday Inn and Wyndham Inn.

The Clifton Hill District is minutes away from the falls and offers a litany of restaurants, shops, and touristy attractions.  This entertainment district features the Rock Legends Wax Museum, a Ripley’s Believe it or Not,  and a variety of family-friendly eateries such as T.G.I Fridays. At night, the streets are lit in neon.

But it’s the actual Niagara Falls that lures millions of onlookers.  Estimated to be about 12,000 years old, it flows at 35 miles per hour and is so large it is split into two falls- one is the American Falls on the U.S. side, and the other is Canadian Horseshoe Falls along Ontario.  The Horseshoe Falls, 180 feet high, sees about six million cubic feet of water go over the edge every minute.

How to see it? Book a trip to Niagara on a cruise boat and get splashed by the famous overspray.  Or go during the night on an evening cruise where the waters are illuminated with colorful lights setting the stage for a romantic evening, weather permitting.  You can slice and dice the Niagara visit in so many different ways. Experience the Niagara by helicopter, private plane, or even jet boat.

Give yourself at least four days to a week to enjoy the pleasures of both Toronto and Niagara Falls.  The bookend cities will make your travel story complete.

If you are interested in visiting Toronto and Niagara Falls, check out our Toronto and Niagara Falls package and start planning your next vacation!

Kathy Chin Leong is an award-winning travel journalist who has trekked the world. As founder of www.bayareafamilytravel.com, she is passionate about helping people step out of their comfort zones and challenge themselves to try new things and visit new places. Her work can be found in National Geographic Books, Sunset Magazine, and many others.

What does the paintbrush of your imagination create on your New England canvas? Forests coated with fall colors?  Gleaming white church steeples?  Wood covered bridges?  Such a journey takes on a myriad of hues and complexities as simple as a pinkish sunset and as rugged as a bike race along the Atlantic coastline.

Whether you are planning a family getaway or couples vacation, there’s no place like New England that brings out your inner history and culture geek. Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are the anchor states where you can literally taste the foods of early settlers and relive the experiences of explorers as you tromp overgrown trails.  And on a practical level, with the exception of Boston, the cities and towns of New England are easily drivable with clear signage and smooth roads.  For Boston, the best thing you can do is leave your car at the hotel and take public transportation to wherever you want to go in the city.

How long to stay?  You can zip through New England in one week, but select what you want to see wisely.  A ten-day or two-week stay affords you more time to immerse yourself in a single state and try a host of different activities.

If you want to pick the most adorable state, I recommend Vermont. You would think the word “charming” was invented here. Crayola red barns, fields of grain, maple trees, and dozens of bed and breakfast inns pindot the landscape.  I also want to note that the Trapp Family Lodge, owned by the offspring depicted in The Sound of Music, provides a rare opportunity to experience the region and learn more about the musical clan.

With little traffic to speak of, you must take advantage of a clear day and rent a bicycle to meander through the quaint towns.  If time affords, you may want to visit Killington for some skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer to the top of Mt. Killington at 4,241 feet.

You can take in farm tours such as the one at Carman Book Farm in Swanton, to see how maple syrup is made in a sugarhouse the old fashioned way.  You can go to the Simon Pearce Restaurant for gourmet eats and go shopping at the Simon Pearce glass gallery on the premises while watching glass blowers at work.

Adjacent to Vermont is New Hampshire, known for its literary heroes such as Robert Frost and the contemporary Dan Brown of Da Vinci Code fame.  In mountainous New Hampshire, known as the “granite” state for its many granite rock quarries, be sure to get your hiking shoes ready.  Hit the White Mountain National Forest Historic Trail, a 100-mile scenic route laced with historic sites, rivers, and wetlands.  On tap are many small towns and villages that look so quintessential New England you’ll want to whip out your drawing pad.  Be sure to visit the historic Shaker Village in Canterbury to see how this early Christian sect lived, worked, and educated its children.

Next, a visit to Maine certainly means a trek to Freeport where you’ll find a plethora of outlets for everything from designer shoes to kitchenware. There’s more than shopping in Maine, for you must be sure to drive to Bar Harbor’s Acadia National Park to lock in some picturesque views of the water and lush forests.  Activities such as rafting, fly-fishing and even spring skiing are available to the adventurer. Maine is especially proud of its warbler migration and guided moose safaris. All this running around should work up giant appetites for seafood. Remember, this is where the Maine in Maine lobster comes from.  In New England, particularly in Maine, you can eat seafood morning, noon, and night with seafood in every dish from soups to desserts.  Your camera roll of Maine will be filled with images of its islands, beaches, fishing villages, clambakes, wind-jammer cruises, and more.

In Rhode Island, the country’s teeniest state, take your crew to big and small museums, and go on tours of the many grand Newport mansions.  You must say hello to the famous Rhode Island School of Design’s Museum of Art in Providence and tennis fans can visit Newport’s International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum.

You can take the frenzied pace of the city a notch down in Cape Cod.  This tourist’s seaport features a litany of water excursions, so jump on a boat ride on the waters of the Atlantic or leisurely wander the genteel streets.  The sunset no less than spectacular, and noshing on a lobster roll as the sky turns orange is as close to heaven as you can get.  The islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket with its myriad of quilted inns and romantic restaurants are only a ferry ride away.

In the spring or summer or fall, the glories of New England pretty much leaves you breathless.  The scenery, history, outdoor doings, museums, signature foods, arts and crafts galleries make for a phenomenal journey that has turned many a vacationer into a resident.

For information about visiting New England, please visit California Tours site:  USA Vacation Packages or call 415-393-4214 today!

Kathy Chin Leong is an award-winning travel journalist who has trekked the world. Her work can be found in National Geographic Books, Sunset Magazine, and many others.

It’s argued that the nation’s music began in the Mississippi River corridor, with jazz emerging from New Orleans and the blues migrating from the Delta into the streets of Memphis where it found its own and evolved into rock ’n’ roll, rhythm and blues and soul. In the rural areas another sound emerged, immigrated from the Old World and evolving as well into bluegrass, rockabilly and country.

Almost all of these distinct American styles can trace their ancestry to the Deep South.

In New Orleans, slaves and later freed African Americans congregated in Congo Square, playing drums and dancing. Their indigenous music would merge with church hymns, spirituals and classical instruments in an exciting new sound called jazz. Views differentiate on who started the lively new music, but most likely it was Buddy Bolden, Nick LaRocca, who recorded the first jazz record and Jelly Roll Morton, who proclaimed, “It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that New Orleans is the cradle of jazz, and I myself happen to be the inventor in the year 1902.”

Jazz migrated northward with bands like King Oliver and Louis Armstrong and the sound filtrated to the East Coast and became a national and now international sensation.

About the same time African Americans were performing a style of music taken from the cotton fields of the Mississippi River Delta, hard luck stories and hopes sung while working. W.C. Handy heard this rhythmic sound while passing through and published a song based on his recollection. He would later become the “Father of the Blues,” publishing many more like it.

As people began demanding more “blues,” talent from the Mississippi Delta began pouring into Memphis and Chicago to earn money performing. Memphis’s Beale Street was the heart of the Southern action, and soon the place where record producers would start capturing this unique sound on vinyl.

Whether the blues originated distinctly in Mississippi is arguable, but as Steve Cheseborough writes in “Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues,” “Mississippians have always made up a large proportion of all blues singers and an overwhelming proportion of the finest blues singers.”

Today, New Orleans continues to celebrate its jazz heritage with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and all types of jazz performed live in venues throughout the city. Pick up Cheseborough’s guide and visit the dozens of blues markers, museums and blues juke joints throughout Mississippi, such as B.B. King’s Museum and Ground Zero Blues Club. There are several of these well-developed markers outside of Mississippi as well, including Graceland, home to Elvis Presley; Ferriday, La., home to Jerry Lee Lewis; and several on and near Beale Street in Memphis.

Speaking of King Elvis, the most popular pop star in American history was born in Tupelo, Miss., earning his fame at the Louisiana Hayride radio show in Shreveport and recording his first hit at Sun Studios in Memphis, both of which are open for tours. Of course all fans will want to visit his Memphis home, Graceland, with its mansion, auto museum, private planes and special exhibits.

Visitors who take in the Smithsonian’s Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis will receive an interactive history of the many cultural elements leading to the formation of blues, rock, soul, rhythm and blues and country.

As Americans embraced rock ’n’ roll and country, however, a town east of Memphis began recording this widely popular new sound. Many people know Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for its inclusion in the Lynyrd Skynyrd’s song, “Sweet Home Alabama.” The small town is the site of numerous studios where recording rock greats performed — The Osmonds, Rolling Stones, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Candi Stanton, Ottis Redding, and the list goes on and on. Visitors can tour FAME Studios and others and stand in the spot where Aretha Franklin recorded “I Never Loved a Man” or Rod Stewart sang “Tonight’s the Night.”

As with all Southern travel, everything relates to food, and nothing tastes better listening to America’s music than Deep South cooking.

Of course, Nashville is the heart of the nation’s country music industry, but a little too far north to be considered Deep South. And that’s the topic of another blog. Stay tuned.

If you are interested in visiting the southern states, check out our New Orleans Vacation Package and Nashville & Memphis Vacation Package and start planning your next vacation!

Cheré Coen is a Lafayette, La., travel writer and author, but a native of New Orleans. Her latest book is “Exploring Cajun Country: A Tour of Historic Acadiana.” Follow her at WeirdSouth.blogspot.com