much to be proud of !!



Travel elite put Sonoma County on world list of top destinations

By CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 7:25 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 7:25 p.m.


National Geographic, you can be sure, knows that Sonoma is not the same as, or part of, Napa.

The latter is mentioned by way of contrast in National Geographic Traveler magazine’s list of the Best Trips in the World — the world! — for 2012.
The piece praises Sonoma County’s wines but goes on to acknowledge that we offer a richer cornucopia of things to see, do and taste than our more “vine-centric” neighbor.
The magazine urges travelers to float the Russian, walk amid the giants at Armstrong Woods, retrace historic footprints at Fort Ross and the mission in Sonoma, shop downtown Petaluma and try the seasonal sake-steamed, aged abalone at Cyrus.
We locals, haven’t we about had our fill of sake-steamed abalone?
No attraction gets more ink in the Nat’l Geo Traveler piece than the Gravenstein apple pie at Mom’s Apple Pie, between Sebastopol and Forestville: “It ranks up there with a Russian River Valley pinot noir as a real taste of Sonoma.”
Sonoma County shares the “Best Trips” list with Spain’s Costa Brava, Istria in Croatia, London, Africa’s Virunga volcanoes, Dresden, northern Colombia, Muskoka in Ontario, Pittsburgh, Thailand’s Koh Lipe, Belfast and all of New Zealand, Iceland, Panama, Mongolia, Peru, Greece, Oman, Guatemala and Sri Lanka.
What lovely company.
TICKET'S FACE VALUE: If ardent 49ers fan Jerry Topolos keeps this up, the ticket he's pulling from his wallet to show everybody will be completely worn out before the Dec. 19 Niners-Steelers game.
Jerry is co-founder and former co-owner of the winery/restaurant called Russian River Vineyards/Corks — and that, coincidentally, is a country neighbor to Mom's Apple Pie.
It's not just that Jerry is proud that he gets to go the Niners' final home game.
The team had a contest in which folks wrote and declared why they are the 49ers' greatest fans. Jerry, who's cheered the team since the Kezar Stadium days, wrote his statement, and hoped.
He was picked as a winner. And every single ticket to that final home game, including the tattered one in his pocket, is printed with a picture of him, smiling proudly in a Niners jacket.
ZOMBIES ARE IN, so expect a big, gruesome turnout at the Zombie Walk that will strike out from Copperfield's Books in Sebastopol at noon today.
The un-dead will lumber through the farmers market and hit a few neighborhoods on the way back to the Main Street bookstore.
Don't worry, they won't touch. But they may beckon you to un-become one of them.
McDONALD AVENUE is getting set to terrify and delight the legions that will descend on Santa Rosa's most elegant old street for Halloween.
Every Halloween is a gas in the McDonald neighborhood. This year promises to be unforgettable because restoration of the centerpiece home — Mableton, or the McDonald Mansion — is at last finished and owners John and Jenny Webley are turning their impeccable front yard into a bloody slice of Jack the Ripper's London.
Last year, the Webleys still were in a house down the block from the mansion and they dressed the front brilliantly as a remake of “The Birds.”
The Ripper production promises to be even grander and more menacingly playful.
Potential victims will walk in the shadows, unaware of the peril. A doctor will perform autopsies on those for whom the danger became suddenly real.
Trick-or-treaters will wander among fortune tellers, magicians and street people of questionable character.
Whether the Webleys will turn part of the grounds creepy for every Halloween is one of those earthly unknowns. Jenny said they're responding this year to a grand, old house that “just cries out to be exploited.”
Monday night, the cries become audible.