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| Cheers from Guerneville! |
It's somewhat difficult to think of Guerneville in terms of a day trip since it's just four miles from Monte Rio. We're passing through it frequently on the way to other inland destinations, and shopping for groceries at the Safeway, which is located in town. Because of its easy accessibility we've never dedicated a full day there, but we have enjoyed a bit of what this historic logging town that's been around since the early 1800's has to offer.
Guerneville has a population of around 5,000 people and takes great pride in its friendliness and diversity. There is a robust stretch approximately one mile long of shops, restaurants and other businesses along River Road, as well as Johnson's Beach, which is one of the Russian Rivers most popular destinations. We don't tend to eat out too often, but we did enjoy a nice casual outdoor dinner at the Main Street Bistro one night while we were keeping James and Emma. I don't know if its seasonal or year-round, but Monday night is "Community Night" at the bistro, and they had some nice specials for $8.
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| Johnsons Beach |
Just a few miles from downtown is Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. This 805-acre park, named after Colonel James Armstrong is covered with coastal redwoods. There is a visitors' center, several shaded hiking trails and picnic areas for day use. There is no overnight camping allowed in the park, but there is a nearby campground in the Austin Creek State Recreation Area.
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| Before the big hike |
Beth and I visited the park on two separate occasions. The first time it was just us, and although it was in the middle of the day and the temperature was in the mid-80's, the tall redwoods (some over 300 feet high) provided a great deal of shade making our hike and picnic very comfortable. The second visit was in the late afternoon, and we enjoyed walking some of the trails with James and Emma. The park wasn't too busy on our first visit, and because it was late in the day we pretty much had the place to ourselves with James and Emma.
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| Many of the trees in Armstrong Redwoods Natural Reserve are 300 feet tall. |
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| Impressive root system on this one. |
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| Friends along the trail. |
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| Happiness is a wide, flat trail! |
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| On our second visit the "trail guides" were leaving us behind! |
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| Just a couple of birthday buddies out for a walk in the redwoods with James leading the way! |
There is no entrance fee required, but there is a parking fee (currently $10, but if you're old you get a dollar discount). Limited parking is available on the street near the paid lot. We were lucky and found street parking near the entrance saving us a little money and getting us a few more steps.
Also, just a few miles from the city limits of Guerneville is the Korbel Winery and Champagne Cellar. We're not huge wine people, but the Korbel Winery looked interesting, so we decided to stop in for a visit. The winery offers complimentary tours several times a day (space is limited). We happened to arrive shortly before a tour was starting and since there was space available, the price was right and there was the promise of a complimentary glass of champagne at the end we said, absolutely!
The tour was informative and shared the story of the Korbel Brothers who immigrated to the US and settled in the Guerneville area in the 1850's. According to our tour guide, their first business was logging and they were quite successful. However, looking to expand they began making wine, but not just any wine. Their wine was "sparkling", and they named it after a similar product from France known as "champagne". Lawsuits were filed claiming that only sparkling wine from the champagne region of France could be marketed as "champagne". Eventually the Korbel Brothers prevailed and were "grandfathered in" and allowed to use "champagne" although it had to be labeled as "California Champagne". Currently they bottle around 1.6 million cases per year. Adding the word "California" to the label hasn't seemed to hurt matters.
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| The tour of the champagne cellar started outside underneath this cluster of redwoods. Our tour guide shared with us how the redwoods protect themselves in order to survive. In the middle of this group is a very large tree that was cut down many years ago. As it began to be cut down, the tree starts to grow new trees from its roots. In this case new trees from the same roots completely surrounded the original tree. After learning this, we saw evidence of this throughout the redwood forests, including a nice example in front of the Airbnb where we are staying. |
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| The museum had nice exhibits of the Korbel Brothers lives', from immigration to logging, to wine making. |
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| Korbel was the official champagne of Y2K (remember that?). According to the Guiness Book of World records, this is the largest bottle of champagne ever produced |
The 45 minute tour was interesting and as promised there was a tasting at the end. Here's a toast to the Korbel Brothers for their hard work in developing a champagne that got the attention of the French!
