well, my better fifth finally won out. despite my almost slavish avoidance of northern california, apparently "i'll pay for the tickets and dinner every night" wins out bigtime.

so, basically, is there much of interest for two gen-y gay girls with a love for big full-bodied reds and stuff? i have no idea about napa's queer quota, but i could use to be edumicated and all.

(and any ideas where to eat would rawk, too.)

If you're feeling outdoorsy then you might want to check out the Russian River area. Heard it is very gay/lesbian friendly. Never been there, so I can't speak from experience. Check out www.gayrussianriver.com (http://www.gayrussianriver.com)

If you're looking for a fun winery with great reds, try V. Sattui (www.vsattui.com). They have a huge tasting area and picnic grounds very conveniently located (can't buy their wines in the store). There are some great wineries around the Russian River - great drive or bike ride from Healdsburg to Gurneville. For dinner I would try Tra Vigne or John Ash & Company - both have great wine lists & unbeatable food. Gurneville is the primary gay resort area in the "wine country".

thank you thank you. the v. sattui recommendation sounds just perfect, incidentally; we're mostly going to be in Guerneville. which is good, i suppose.

i also suppose i should make her pay for the taxi, too. *snicker* i get drunk frighteningly fast and i'm remarkably horrible with the self-control when there's a good wine list. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

gwendolynaoife: Other suggestions here have been good. There was a good feature on the Napa Valley in Wine Spectator magazine last June which included dining, lodging, attractions, maps and, of course, wineries.

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Main/Feature_Basic_Template/1,1197,845,00.html

and

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Archives/Show_Article/1,1275,3423,00.html

Guerneville is the "gay resort" town of the area. Many people come up from the Bay Area for the weekend. It is quite laid back and casual. Not sure where you are staying and if there is a pool, but you used to be able to buy day passes to some resorts that have pools. Fife's used to be really fun, and I read it was renovated for the 2002 season. http://www.fifes.com/

An article on Guerneville from OutTraveler magazine:

http://www.outtraveler.com/magazine/01jan/russianriver1.shtml

You can drive out to Jenner and the Pacific coast via Highway 116 and discover some beautiful spots up and down Highway 1.

If you like the outdoors, don't miss the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve which is just two miles outside of Guerneville. Beautiful walking paths and picnic areas

http://cal-parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=450

Adjacent is the Austin Creek State Recreation Area. Great hiking paths and views from the top of the mountain. Also a great campground.

http://cal-parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=452

I prefer the Sonoma Valley to Napa Valley - seems smaller and greener and a bit less crowded. There are some excellent wineries (B.R. Cohn is my favorite, but you need to call ahead):

http://www.sonomavalleywine.com/

One of my favorites in the Napa Valley is the Hess Collection Winery, which not only offers good wines but a very nice gallery of contemporary artwork featuring parts of the collection of owner Donald Hess.

http://www.hesscollection.com/index2.asp

Having a designated driver (or a hired one) is an excellent idea if you plan on drinking any amount of wine. The region frowns heavily on drunk driving and patrols can be frequent.

Oh - have fun! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by blairvanhorn (edited 05-20-2002).]

ooh, thanks again. we're off tomorrow, yay!

and, basicallly, if i have more than one glass of wine, i don't drive anything...not a big wheel, not a car. so yeah, we've figured out how to get around. of course, how to bring all that wine back...that's the fun part. *cackle*

And don't forget to visit the Clos Pégase (http://www.clospegase.com)winery, where they've done an interesting job of mixing art and wine. Mitsuko's a hoot.

Needless to say, the French Laundry (expensive but worth it), and the very good Tra Vigne and Terra in St Helena should be on your list too.

yum.


[This message has been edited by Droneklax (edited 05-21-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">so, basically, is there much of interest for two gen-y gay girls with a love for big full-bodied reds and stuff? i have no idea about napa's queer quota, but i could use to be edumicated and all.</font>

Gay nightlife in Napa Valley? Nahhhh. But there are tons of fun things to do.

There are about a gazillion wineries around there. You can go down route 29 and drive from tasting to tasting, one better than the next.

Restaurants? No end of high quality places in sight. My favorite is Domaine Chandon. I had a memorable meal with JohnA and AnnaS from this board shortly before JohnA died last year. If you go there, raise a toast to him.

Golfers with lots of money to spend? Play a round at Silverado. Bicyclists? Rent a couple of bikes and ride down the Silverado trail.

Then there's Harbin Hot Springs (http://www.harbin.org/), where you can frolic in the altogether. Lots of queers and dykes frolicking there.

If you like a more tony spa, Sonoma Mission Inn might be your kind of place. I have had the good fortune to spend a weekend there. Good dining room, nice facility.

The area is full of sweet little towns like Sonoma and Calistoga. Both are cute without being too unbearably cutesy.

My favorite town in the area is Healdsburg. It's west of the main part of the wine country, north of Santa Rosa. It's mainly my favorte because of the Downtown Bakery and Creamery. How does homemade peach ice cream made with peaches from the owner's tree sound? The ice creams and sorbets are to die for. This place was started by Lindsay Shere, who was the pastry chef at Chez Panisse for years, and carries on in the same glorious tradition. Healdsburg has other charms but I always find my way to the Downtown Bakery and Creamery and if you're anywhere within 50 miles of the place, so should you. (Daytime hours only.)

Sebastopol and Guerneville (also west of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys) are sweet little towns, too, although not as cute as any of the others. Major gay and lesbian populations in both places.

The coastline west of Guerneville is phenomenal as well. If you like wildland, the Point Reyes National Seashore in North Marin county is great for hiking and just looking at beautiful country. You will be amazed to find such wild land so close to a major metropolitan area. The drive from the Golden Gate Bridge north on California 1 to Jenner (where the road from Santa Rosa and Guerneville hits the coast) is just rich with scenic beauty in places.

If you're going to be in San Francisco or the East Bay at all (or even if you're not), you might want to pick up a copy of Betty & Pansy’s Severe Queer Review of San Francisco http://www.cleispress.com/Pages/reviewofsf.html

Dgolds: Thanks for the book recommendation. I have never heard of this series and it looks like a great travel resource.

total exposure to the east bay?

1.stopping at a friend's in albany. i like albany, it's sweet and cute.

2.the airport.

i really, slavishly, avoid SF. it's just not very comfy for me and stuff.

we've been doing some hiking and all, but mostly drinking silly amounts of wine and entertaining our driver a bit too much.

alright, back to the wine and all...

(edited because i can't finish my posts...even sober, apparently. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif )s

[This message has been edited by gwendolynaoife (edited 05-26-2002).]

Try:

http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/winecountry/

for a complete list of activities. Another interesting side trip would include:

http://www.safariwest.com

My partner and I spend a weekend at Safari West and had a great time.

Wow... I love Napa but dgolds has suggestions I haven't even thought of.

I wonder if I could get my PNB to play tour guide for a day for me the next time I'm out there?! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/biggrin.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">August 16, 2002

At Russian River, Gay Campers Find They Are Not Alone
By SARA RIMER

THIS is the sixth summer that Joe Selph and Marty Bracciotti have gone camping together. Over the years they have made the rounds of the traditional spots — the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Bryce Canyon — pitching a tent, cooking outdoors, hiking mountain trails. But the two men have decided that Fife's, a 15-acre camping resort in the lower Russian River Valley, a 90-minute drive north of San Francisco, is probably more their kind of place.

It isn't that the two men don't enjoy touring the country's national parks, Mr. Selph, a 44-year-old children's entertainer from Los Angeles, explained as he sat in a canvas chair on a warm late July morning sipping a cup of coffee that had just been brewed on a Coleman stove outside his tent. It's just that those places impose certain limitations, Mr. Selph said: "You're not going to come out of the shower with a towel wrapped around your head pretending you're Norma Desmond."

Fife's and the two dozen or so other resorts scattered around the valley, a verdant stretch of redwood-rich land about 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean, have long offered a bucolic refuge for gay men and lesbians, a place where a mix of freedoms — social, personal, sexual — transform the annual summer holiday into something more than just a week's break from the grind of the workplace.</font>

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/16/travel/16CALI.html