The land of giants

Petaluma, CA – The KOA staff here gave us a little pamphlet with a self-guided tour of the Sonoma area and the nearby redwood forest, which we decided to follow today.  It was a clear sunny day, in the low 60s F, as we set out past rolling green pastures of local farmland.

From wide farms and ranches, we proceeded into more forested areas, passing lots of vineyards on either side of the highway.  Unlike the lush green vines hanging richly with grapes that we saw last summer in the Niagara region, these vines were naked branches, dormant and black, awaiting the coming growing season.

The first stop was at the Kozlowski Farms, where the small store displayed shelves full of jams and chutneys, salsas and sauces – with sampling stations – as well as a bakery case full of homemade pies, tarts and squares filled with fruit grown a few yards from the store.  We selected three jars of jam, a blackberry oatmeal square and a couple of small apple tarts for later consumption.

It was close to lunch time when we stopped at the Korbel Champagne Cellars, a large establishment founded in the 1880s. The Korbel brothers found that the region’s early morning fog and long summer days produced some of the best champagne grapes in the world, and apparently the Korbel Brut is the most popular champagne sold in the US.

We sat on the patio next to a trickling fountain to enjoy our freshly-made deli meal.  It could have fed four of us, but it was delicious! Lovely scents from the beautiful gardens nearby wafted past as we ate.

A string of small resort towns followed, with picturesque boutiques and eateries nestled in among groves of tall redwood pines. There were lots of weekend visitors enjoying the outdoor patios and window-shopping as we drove by.

Long lines of cars were parked along the road as we approached the Armstrong Woods.  We managed to squeeze our little Honda into a roadside spot, and set off on foot along the shortest of many walking trails in the forest.

It was lovely to feel the spongy ground under our feet and to gaze way, way up to the top of these ancient giants.  The woods were chilly in the dense shade, and the wooden rails along the trail were heavy with emerald-green moss.  A wonderful smell of wet earth and pine needles surrounded us, and we could hear the trickle of a small stream nearby. The oldest trees were around 2000 years old and soared more than 300 feet into the sky.

After a magi-cal stroll, we continued toward the Pacific Coast and joined throngs of visitors look-ing out at the crashing surf and harbour seals lolling on the sand, and gazing out to sea in hopes of spying the spouts of passing whales that migrate along the coast this time of year. Our tour brought us home again, past peaceful cows grazing in the lengthening shadows, after a perfectly lovely day.