Healdsburg, CA, Sep 2010

There are a couple of options when driving from Guerneville to Healdsburg.  You can travel along River Road which parallels the Russian River heading east for a period before connecting with the 101 Freeway where you head north to Healdsburg or you can travel along Westside Road which winds its way northeast through the "back country" before depositing you into the heart of downtown Healdsburg.  Our good friends Jim and Eric who have a weekend cabin in Forestville, a small town between Guerneville and Healdsburg, suggested we take Westside Road, which of course we did.  As beautiful as the forested roads were heading into Guerneville, the drive along Westside Road was equally beautiful with what seemed to be endless miles of rolling hills and beautiful vineyards.  There was just something about traveling along that two-lane country road that really brought the spirit of Project Mayberry to life.  We could both feel it as we casually drove past one vineyard and then another, no cars around us, no endless sea of buildings and billboards, just the peacefulness of a beautiful Sunday morning.

Since beginning this project, just about everyone we've spoken to can immediately visualize that place we are searching for simply by telling them the project name.  For many, at least those born before the mid 1980's, the word "Mayberry" represents a simpler, less stressful place and time.  A place and time where you could casually stroll along tree lined streets with white picket fences framing impeccably manicured front yards, catching up on the week's events with neighbors at the local coffee shop, or stopping by a friend's house unannounced just to visit or to enjoy a cold beverage on a hot summer's afternoon.  Corny, perhaps.  Unrealistic, I think not, if the desire and determination to get off the "hamster wheel" is truly there.

As we rounded one of the many bends in the road we noticed a sign post up ahead on a white split rail fence that read “MacMurry Ranch”.  This was the ranch of Hollywood legend Fred MacMurry who starred in the 1960’s TV hit “My Three Sons”.  While not Mayberry, the TV show “My Three Sons” also embodied that simpler, slower paced life.  Here we were, out in the middle of Northern California wine country passing the ranch of a 1960’s TV icon.  Was this some sort of sign of what lay ahead for us?

As we continued along Westside Road we became increasingly excited the closer we got to Healdsburg. Based on the description that Eric has shared with us the day before, Healdsburg sounded much closer to the type of small town we had envisioned.  The road began to straighten out and we soon found ourselves at the intersection of Healdsburg Avenue, the city’s main thoroughfare.   We turned left, heading north, and almost simultaneously, Gianni and I both yelled “YES”.  Healdsburg Avenue is a beautiful tree-line street dotted with various eateries, art galleries, and wine tasting rooms.  Folks casually walked along its wide sidewalks window shopping or just enjoying the warmth of the late Sunday morning.

Continuing north, we came upon Healdsburg Plaza.  This was a page right out of the “Small Town America Playbook”.  A central town square complete with fountains, park benches, and of course, a band stand.  How perfect was this?  It was quickly evident that the plaza was the “heart” of Healdsburg.  This is where the various festivals and events are held throughout the year.  I was personally very excited by several of the upcoming events; in particular the Farmer’s Market Pumpkin Festival and Doggie Howl-O-Ween parade at the end of October, and the Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony in late November.  While Gianni was somewhat less excited about the Pumpkin Festival and Tree Lighting ceremony, he did think it would be fun to dress up Jack and Spencer in doggie Halloween costumes.  I could just picture little “Jack-O-Lantern” and “Spooky Ghost Spencer” strolling around the Plaza.  Actually, I kind of picture Spencer a little more like Charlie Brown’s ghost from It’s The Great Pumpkin…”I had a little trouble with the scissors” for those Great Pumpkin fans.

We headed out of town and started to drive through the neighborhoods.  White picket fences and well manicured front lawns, check.  After about 30 minutes of driving we thought the best way to get a feel for the town was to walk so we parked the car and started off on our walking tour of Healdsburg.  Our first impression of the town was great.  We had that instant connection we were looking for.  Now it was time to see if Healdsburg could meet our other criteria.  Our criteria are purposefully simple.  We did not want to over complicate this effort by creating elaborate spreadsheets, formulas and data models.  We simply wanted to make sure our next home town had the things that we enjoy most; a movie theater, a gym, a branch of our bank, a mani-pedi salon, a nice dog park for “the boys”, a gay-friendly atmosphere, and a sense of community.  Throughout the afternoon we were able to put a check mark beside each and every one of our criteria.  Healdsburg was quickly becoming a major contender.

All of the walking through town was making us hungry so we stopped in at the Bear Republic Sports Bar for a quick bite to eat.  Prior to this point, there was virtually no access to sports viewing since our room in Guerneville, aside from having barely enough space for our luggage, did not have a TV.  While some might think being disconnected from television for a weekend is not a big deal, sports viewing is like the life blood for Gianni so you can understand my nervousness about how he would react after going cold turkey for two days and then suddenly being surrounded by multiple big screens all showing various football games.  I half expected him to seize up given the huge amount of sports input he was receiving all at once but I guess as with any seasoned “sports junkie” he knew exactly how much he could handle.  I have to admit, it was nice to see that sense of calm returning to his face as opposed to the dazed and confused look he had ever since discovering the cabin did not come with TV access.

After our food and sports fix we had about one hour before we needed to head back to Sacramento so we decided to take another drive through the neighborhoods.  Being Sunday afternoon, there were a number of open houses taking place so we decided to get a sense of what real estate was like in Healdsburg.  I’ve learned living in California that home prices are all relative so relative to where we’re living today, home prices in Healdsburg are kind of a bargain.  As luck would have it, we stumbled across a lovely little two bedroom ranch home being shown by realtors Robin and Katie.  After taking a quick tour of the house we struck up a conversation with them and described our five-year plan, explaining that this was our first research weekend.  Robin has lived her whole life in Healdsburg and Katie moved there with her family several years ago from San Jose.  We shared how impressed we were with the town, how it met every one of our criteria, and most importantly how we could already visualize ourselves living here.  They went on to tell us more information about the area and offered to show us around if we wanted to come back at some later point.  We agreed to take them up on their offer.

As we headed back to Sacramento we talked about the day’s events.  While Healdsburg had certainly proven to be a top contender and a clear front runner for both of us, it was early in the project and I did not want to jump to any decisions after just one visit.  After all, in order to make an informed decision we owed it to ourselves to perform our due diligence and explore at least some of the other towns on our list.  At that point Gianni offered up a simple but enlightened perspective.  “This place has everything we want.  It’s what we talked about and envisioned for ourselves.  There’s nothing that any of those other places could have that I don’t already see here.  Why do we need to spend time looking for something we’ve already found?”  Hmmm…he made a good point.  As we continued down the 101 I said, “Well, the only thing I need to make this complete is a Macy’s.”  And sure enough, at that very moment, we passed the Santa Rosa Mall and right there was the Macy’s big red star shining brightly as if welcoming us to our new home.  This truly was a sign.  

Guerneville, CA - Sep 2010

We made our first trip a couple of weeks ago to the Northern California towns of Guerneville and Healdsburg.  We had been looking forward to this trip for weeks as this was our first real "research" trip.  We were especially eager to visit Guerneville because of what we had read about its gay friendly atmosphere.  Our trip started off on Friday afternoon in Sacramento.  We headed west, traveling across wide open valleys, rolling hills, and several small towns before arriving in Guerneville.  The road into Guerneville was a two-lane road that wound its way through thick redwood forests and across the Russian River.  The river itself was quite beautiful.  Its tree lined banks stood in stark contrast to the concrete flood channels which comprise much of the Los Angeles River.  There were several folks lazily floating along in rafts and canoes enjoying a warm Friday afternoon.  As we drove through town on the way to our "hotel" we found ourselves marveling at the various restaurants, shops and bars we had seen in pictures on-line as if they were iconic landmarks…Oh look, there’s Pat’s Restaurant, there’s the Safeway, there’s the Rainbow Cattle Company.

We continued down the main street finally arriving at Dawn Ranch Lodge. Dawn Ranch is not really a single "lodge" but a collection individual little cabins.  I was initially excited at the idea of staying in one of these cabins because they reminded me of a family trip we took almost 45 years ago to Lake George, NY.  I fondly recalled the little yellow single-room cabin my parents rented for us...my Mom, Dad, brother and I all cozy in our rustic home away from home.  This was going to be great. Unfortunately, nostalgia quickly gave way to the reality that our cute little cabin didn’t even have enough room for our suit cases.  I’m not exactly sure what Gianni’s expectations were for our room, but it was abundantly clear from the look on his face that this little cabin was not meeting those expectations.  We ultimately upgraded to a two-room cabin…one room for us and one room for our luggage.

Once we were settled, our walking tour of Guerneville began…and ended about 30 minutes later.  In that time we had walked the entire town…twice!  Guerneville is quite literally a one stop light town.  After our second go-around we decided to have dinner at Boon Restaurant.  The meal was delicious and the atmosphere was a pleasant blend of big city vibe with small town charm.  Guerneville is a weekend getaway for many San Franciscans so the town does have subtle undertones of big-city sophistication.  After dinner we decided to drink in the local flavor at the Rainbow Cattle Company bar.  One of two gay bars in this town of approximately 1,300 people.  It was a typical local gay bar with pool tables, a DJ, a shuffle board table and a couple of pin ball machines.  The night started out a little slow but eventually picked up, especially when the three gay soccer teams from San Francisco arrived!  As we were walking back to our cabin after our night on the town I couldn’t help but notice how clear the evening sky was and how many stars were visible.  I couldn't remember the last time I saw that many stars in the sky.  It was simply breathtaking and I had to pause for a moment to take it all in.

The next morning we had breakfast at Pat’s Restaurant before continuing our day-time exploration.  This was the Jazz Festival weekend in Guerneville so there was a good bit of activity throughout the town as folks were heading down to the river bank, beach chairs and coolers in tow, to spend the day listening to great music in the warm summer sun.

Since we had pretty much seen most of Guerneville…at least three times now, we decided to take a drive to the coast which is just a short 20 minute trip west of Guerneville.  What I found amazing was how quickly, yet how subtly, you transition from majestic redwood forests to rolling hills and eventually the rugged coast line of the Pacific Ocean.  Living at the beach in LA we see the ocean every day, yet I was still in awe of the unspoiled beauty of the Northern California coastline.

For our final evening in Guerneville, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary with dinner at Chef Patrick’s followed by an outing at the second gay bar in town, the “Triple R”.  The “Triple R” has karaoke and by the end of the evening we had heard everything from Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” (a high audience participation song) to “The Bear Necessities” from the Jungle Book…the first time I have ever heard that performed at karaoke.  We met a good group of locals and felt quite at ease and welcomed.

Sunday morning we woke up early so we could get started with our day’s agenda of visiting Healdsburg, CA, another town on our short list.  Healdsburg is approximately 30 minutes east of Guerneville in the heart of wine country.  Before leaving for Healdsburg we stopped for coffee at the local coffee house to reflect on our Guerneville experience.  We both agreed that while the area itself is truly magnificent with its natural beauty and the people are warm and welcoming, it is probably not the right fit for us as a permanent residence.  We did not feel that instant connection we were looking for nor could we visualize ourselves living there on a full-time basis.  As we passed that one stop light on our way out of town we laughed at the fact that our quest for “small town” living may need to be re-calibrated to “small city” living.


Next stop, Healdsburg...