From the lesser known wine region of Paso Robles, we traveled north past the golden gates of San Francisco to the somewhat better known (and indeed more pricey) wine region of Napa. We based ourselves near Healdsburg in the Sonoma valley for the week, our 20 minute morning/evening commute taking us along winding country lanes past pretty vineyards.
The commute also took us past Riverside park which had the perfect-sized lake to get two laps in before work. Running that is, not swimming.
Every co-working space is a little bit different and they’re certainly getting much busier this year compared to deep covid. CraftWork in Healdsburg rather excelled itself with its pricing structure, it ended up costing over $500 for the week for the two of us. (I’m literally searching for a shock horror gob-smacked emoji).
The other oddity about this place was that I couldn’t find the microwave. I searched high and low, thinking it must be hidden in some random cupboard. I literally turned the kitchen upside down, flinging open doors and drawers – must be a cryptic game of hide and seek for the newbies. Kettle – tick; toaster – tick; plates, bowls & cutlery – tick; even a dishwasher. Surely there must be a microwave? 🤔 But nope.
Fair enough, it was a nice contemporary professional space to work in and they had really good coffee. You didn’t have to smell the milk or check the date before putting it in your coffee, nor did you have to make it yourself. And they had free snacks galore – tangerines, trail mix, breakfast bars, nutrition bars, popcorn and chocolate. And yes indeed, we did attempt to eat our body weight in snacks to get our money’s worth!
The campsite we were staying at in nearby Forestville was also a little, shall we say quirky. We were in a spacious, secluded site nestled among pine trees by a river. Barely another soul around, just the odd fellow traveler came and went during the week. Meanwhile, at the other end of the campground, there were the residents. These trailers were going nowhere – they were practically fenced in by the inordinate amount of firewood they’d obtained. And there was some rather odd decor, including a life size skeleton, that made you really not want to hang around.
In the middle between the two areas was the restroom and shower block. One of those unheated buildings where you wouldn’t want to spend a single minute longer than you had to. And yet, they felt the need to post a whole host of rules on the entrance, including No Co-Ed showers. Think they’re pretty safe with me on that one. And No Food. Damn, that put paid to eating my breakfast in the toilets.
Not forgetting we’re in wine country, so we did make it out to a winery. And a brewery. Oh and a rooftop bar.
(might want to think about re-marketing itself)
Weekends in the winelands are perfect for cycling. So that’s what we did. The End.
