It provides excellent shopping, first-rate schools, and many neighborhoods with lovely homes. Trees are protected in Santa Rosa, and large redwoods, walnuts, oaks, and eucalyptus dot the skyline. The downtown area is level and walkable, with handsome architecture both old and new, book stores, coffeehouses, restaurants, theaters, boutiques, a museum, and a spacious covered shopping mall. Santa Rosa has a large and excellent Junior College, which has an active re-entry program for adults. The city's Well Fargo Center for the Arts hosts concerts and theatrical productions nightly. The Redwood Empire Ice Arena, built by cartoonist Charles Schultz of "Peanuts" fame, is available year around for skaters..

The smaller cities of Petaluma and Rohnert Park are home to many telecommunications and other high-tech companies, and even Sebastopol, once known mainly for its Gravenstein apples, is developing a business park. Healdsburg, about 15 minutes north of Santa Rosa, and Sonoma, in the eastern part of the county, are charming small towns built around central parks and plazas. Both have agricultural bases and many tourist attractions. California State University, Sonoma, in Rohnert Park, offers the larger community numerous cultural activities. A new multi-million dollar music center is in the planning stage.

Windsor, between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg, has grown up very recently. Most of its 20,000 homes were built in the last twelve years. Windsor is the home of the Hot Air Balloon Classic, held at the end of June.

Known for its world-class wines, Sonoma County is home tow many different appellations and dozens of wineries, which offer visitors daily wine tasting.

The 17-mile-long Sonoma Valley, (or "Valley of the Moon,") about an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge, is lined with hundreds of acres of vineyards, beautiful any time of year, but especially breathtaking in the fall, when the leaves of each variety of grape turn a different shade of red, gold, purple, or orange.

The picturesque towns of Kenwood and Glen Ellen, in the heart of the valley, offer excellent restaurants and parks for hiking, picnicking, horseback riding, and swimming.

Sebastopol, 15 minutes west of Santa Rosa, is a charming and sophisticated community with delightful tree-lined streets and many small farms and ranches, as well as award-winning schools and lots of antique shops.

Gourmet food production is one of the growing industries of Sonoma County. Organic vegetables and excellent cow, sheep, and goat cheeses, many varieties of mushrooms, fruits and berries, free-range poultry, and internationally acclaimed breads are available in local stores, Farmer's markets, and restaurants.

There are several retirement communities in Sonoma County. Oakmont, east of Santa Rosa, established in the 1970s, has homes of varying ages, sizes, and prices located around a lovely golf course. The Clover Spring community in Cloverdale offers attractive single family homes and excellent recreational facilities. Brooks Creek in Windsor is conveniently located near shopping and the Windsor Senior Center.

The governments and residents of all these small cities are agreed that preserving open space and greenbelts between them is a top priority. Voters in all cities have recently approved urban growth limits, freezing the city limits for twenty years. So the likelihood of another Los Angeles or San Jose in Sonoma County has been at least postponed.

The Russian River flows from Cloverdale in northern Sonoma County to the Pacific Ocean at Jenner, offering miles of fishing, canoeing, swimming, and just plain sightseeing along the way. A Jazz Festival and a Blues Festival are held each summer in Guerneville, in the heart of the Russian River vacation area. Armstrong Redwoods State Park is a short drive from central Guerneville.

Between the forested coastal mountains and the Pacific Ocean, the Sonoma Coast has some of the most spectacular vistas on the famous State Highway 1. The coast is always the coolest part of Sonoma County, so be sure to pack a sweater and a windbreaker for your walks along the beaches. The town of Bodega Bay offers fishing trips and seafood restaurants, as well as a selection of coastal homes with Pacific views.

So please come and enjoy all the beauty and diversity Sonoma County has to offer. And if you're thinking about relocating here, please call or e-mail Marlene Lily.

For more information about Santa Rosa, California, click here.
For a free Sonoma County Visitor's Guide from the Sonoma County Convention & Visitors Bureau, click here.