We spent most of Thursday morning
mapping out a broad itinerary going forward that will get us back to Michigan
by the end of June. We only make
reservations at campgrounds a week ahead, so this was more “if we take a week
in Oregon and Washington, and a week at Yellowstone and the Tetons, where does
that put us on the calendar? What are
our must-sees beyond Yellowstone other than Mt. Rushmore?” So many choices. . . so little time. . .
That left us with several options
for Thursday afternoon. Because we only
stopped at 7 wineries on Wednesday, we still had 393 to visit. Of those 7, Mike actually did the wine
tasting at four locations and I tasted and spit out at 2. Since we didn’t think we could top our last
stop – the castle - we decided not to
travel back the 40 + miles to Napa.
Instead, we drove 6 miles into Santa Rosa to the Charles M. Schultz Museum.
This tribute to the Peanuts
creator was a feel-good place. Not a
laugh out loud place, but a warm smile spreading across your face place. Unlike many of the comic strips of today,
which are filled with sarcasm or downright meanness, the Peanuts gang usually just
made us smile. Sparky, as Schultz was referred to throughout the museum, wanted
the space to be a comfortable, home-like atmosphere. And it was, with couches on the different
levels where scrapbooks sat on coffee tables that we could browse through. The small space where the introductory video
was shown even had beanbag chairs to sit in.
In the film, his wife Jean said Schultz’s interests ranged from the
profound to the mundane. No wonder I
wanted to come here. I feel a kindred
spirit to that, although I lean more toward mundane than profound.
The comic strips on display change
every few months. With 50 years of work
to choose from, the museum won’t soon run out of material! Early on, the strip was called Lil’ Folks. When it started to grow to more outlets, a
publisher said the name was too close to a strip called Little People and
changed it to Peanuts. Schultz wasn’t
thrilled with the name, but it grew on him.
He named Charlie Brown and Linus after classmates at Art Instruction,
Inc. And there really was a red-haired
girl.
Since beauty is in the eye of the
beholder, we’ll chalk this museum up on the side of culture – an art
museum. When interviewed, Schultz always
said he wished they would ask more questions about the drawings – the mechanical
techniques he used. Several displays
showcased his pens and nibs and points while explaining in detail his process.
One section talked about the
animated special “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
After viewing the final product, the producer was sure the network
wouldn’t go for it. It was slow moving,
simplistic, and quoted a whole passage from the Bible, which had never been
done before. The network was skeptical,
but they did air it. “A Charlie Brown
Christmas” won an Emmy award, a Peabody award and became an enduring, treasured
classic.
We ended up across the street at
the Warm Puppy, a small café where Sparky ate breakfast and lunch everyday, for
an ice cream cone. The café is in the
Redwoods Ice Arena, an indoor skating rink built by Schultz for the public’s
use. He played on a senior hockey league
there every Wednesday night.
We intended to stop at the
Kendall-Jackson Winery on our way back as it was only 3 miles from our
campground. But we were told that
Francis Ford Coppola’s winery was only about 12 miles north of our campground
and after checking it out online (that there would be things to see and not
just taste wine) we drove there. It was
as good as the castle winery from Wednesday, in a little different way. You could spend a whole day here, due to the
large swimming pool and lounge chairs and cabanas and poolside café and wine
bar!
Inside the winery, yes, you could
pay to do a wine tasting, but you could also just browse several rooms of
Coppola’s movie memorabilia. Everything
from “The Godfather, Parts I, II, and III”, to “Apocalypse Now” to an actual
Tucker automobile in reference to the movie “Tucker” with Jeff Bridges. His Oscar trophies were also displayed. The gift shop was expensive and after seeing those
prices we didn’t even look at the restaurant on site, even though it was dinnertime. But the grounds and memorabilia were
definitely worth the 12-mile drive.
The winery parking lot had a row of electrical charging stations for
hybrid or all-electric vehicles. Coppola
lives in Napa, which is 50 miles away and drives an electric car so he had the
chargers installed as he makes frequent visits to the winery.
And speaking of dinner, every time
we eat out, Mike is choosing a Mexican restaurant. Like 99% of our eat-out meals! This started back in Texas and Oklahoma, and
I thought it would change when we got to California. Nope.
You are not going to recognize me when we get home because I am starting
to resemble a refried bean!
Today (Friday) we are on the road
(as I type) for a 5-hour drive north on Highway 101 (for those of you who are
following us on a map along with our grandkids) to Eureka, CA, which will be
our home base for the weekend while seeing the Redwoods. So far it has been a scenic drive, not
coastal, but wooded. We were surprised that we still saw vineyards
and wineries over an hour north of Windsor. We followed a river gorge for quite
a ways. Have also had to pull over at
turnouts several times to allow the stream of cars behind us to pass. There is an etiquette to the road, and as in
life, Mike is always a gentleman when driving.
We have passed several unique touristy gift shops (you know, with all
the carvings out front) but we come upon them so suddenly there is no time or
space to stop. Just as well. If you’ve seen one carved totem pole, you’ve
seen them all! And we’ve passed through
some redwood groves, which are just making us more excited about what we will
see tomorrow.
To wrap up Napa Valley: It was certainly worth seeing, even for us
non-wine lovers. And if you do like
wine, you could easily spend a long weekend between Napa and Sonoma. And it
would probably be worth it to join one of the many tours. We checked into several that are smaller
buses (like Dial-A-Rides) where the tour guide asks your preferences and then
he/she picks 5 or 6 wineries to visit.
That removes the paralyzing factor of choosing between the overwhelming
number of options. We didn’t do this
because on top of the tour fee, you still had to pay for the wine tasting.
As I look back over this post, and
how I rambled on and on about a Snoopy museum, (hence the reference to my love
of the mundane), I fear you will all end up like me. As Mike says - a brain
filled with useless information . . . .
Pictures today are: me at the
entrance to the Schultz museum; an early version of Snoopy; a 2 story mural
made up of thousands of individual Peanuts strips; a close-up of the strips;
Schultz’s office/drawing studio. Notice
the line on the wall, worn over the years by him leaning back in his chair while
thinking; a mural Schultz painted on the nursery wall of his first child. The wall was removed from their home and
reassembled here; Several characters are
familiar forerunners to the Peanuts gang;
Mike outside the Warm Puppy with Charlie Brown; the entrance to the
Francis Ford Coppola Winery; two pictures of the pool area; Mike in front of
The Godfather display; Coppola’s
version of the Corleone Family describing Fredo, Sonny and Michael; Mike at the desk Marlon Brando sat behind as
The Don, doing his best “We’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” imitation; An example in wine country of directions to
wineries. And this was not on the main
Wine Trail in Napa. It was a small, out
of the way road; going through the town
of Willet (didn’t get my camera ready in time to get the whole sign; and the 101
Highway drive.
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