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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: |
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| Another 50 miles south down the coast brings
the tourist past the Point Arena Light Station, to Gualala, known
for its art festivals, steelhead fishing and whale watching. During the season -- late November to April --you'll want to watch the migration of California gray whales from the deck of your bedroom in the Whale Watch Inn. The the pace is peaceful there, the decor exquisite there, the views stunning, and the rooms luxurious. |
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A further 50 miles south beyond Gualala lies Bodega Bay, Hitchcock's famous locale for "The Birds." The Schoolhouse Inn and neighboring St. Teresa's Church are unchanged from the times of the movie. And you've plenty of time to explore the area even if you need to backtrack 30 miles north for lodgings in Cazadero. The great retreat there, until this month, was
the Timberhill Ranch but Timberhill has just been bought by a East
Coast concern that's enlarging it for a summer 2002 opening. A less
expensive option is the Cazamola
Lodge which sprawls over almost 150 acres to provoke this
brag from its innkeeper,. "We're in God's garden." |
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| For a fast return to San Francisco,
most travelers would choose River Road which follows the Russian River
from its estuary near Jenner past the Korbel Champagne Cellars. It
then twists too far north to lead to Santa Rosa but that's where you're
heading: an attractive neat city of 90,000 with its vineyard, church
built from a single redwood tree and country museum located in the
old post office. |
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And maybe more important to Americans who
haven't seen a newspaper for several days and really do need this
month a television and a telephone fix, a beautiful modern hotel,
The Fountaingrove
Inn arguably the best buy on the Northern California tour.
The hotel's director of marketing reminds our Road Runner readers
that tourists can fly into Santa Rosa airport for the same price as
flying into, say, San Francisco, and that car rentals are cheaper
than in its big sister to the south. "So come visit us," she says.
"We're first class without being intimidating; and elegant without
being stuffy." |
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But that's true of most rooms for romantics in the old-fashioned land of Northern California.
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