More recently, I’ve added the common tradition of opening the front door to bring in the new year’s air into the house. Being one who likes to accelerate just about anything – I turn on the whole house fan to suck in even more of the new year’s air!
The Grandeur of Armstrong Redwoods
Some good friends of mine extended an invitation to spend New Year’s Day up in the wine country. Not being one to pass up an opportunity to be with great people in great places, I quickly accepted their hospitality and made plans to head north. Wanting to start the new year with a bit of movement and activity, I suggested a hike at Armstrong Redwoods State Park.
Armstrong Redwoods is a smaller park in the state park system, however, it doesn’t skimp on natural beauty. While Big Sur, Muir Woods, and the Avenue of the Giants are the Tal names in Redwood trees, Armstrong Redwoods doesn’t disappoint. Just 30 minutes from Santa Rosa, California this park brings the redwoods up close to local visitors.
New Year’s Day brought about an unexpected shower – so we were looking to stay close to the house and not stray too far from the vehicle. The Pioneer Trail with some slight excursions turned out to be the 3 mile hike we were looking for! The dampness brought rich colors and life all throughout the forest!
The Charles Schultz Museum: Peanuts
The next day we headed over to the Charles Schultz Museum. Charles Schultz spent most of his life in Santa Rosa, California – the same place of the Museum in his honor. He is also most famously known as the author of the Peanuts comic strip. While the museum is a blog post of its own – I wanted to drop a few pictures from this exceptional stop during our stay in the North Bay. There was so much about the Peanuts story I forgotten or didn’t realize was connected.
As I browsed the museum, a lot of me was curious how much kids today really understood about Peanuts. Charlie Brown, Lucy, Peppermint Patty were all apart of my childhood. The museum brought those memories back. Since kids today don’t read comic strips, how much exposure do they get to Peanuts? We watched Charlie Brown’s New Year’s special, which definitely brought about a laugh and the smile through throughout the film. Seeing visitor art in the museum brought equal smiles. I loved how the artist below brought Snoopy into the new Ford Bronco!
If you’re in the North Bay, it’s definitely worth a stop!
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