>My family (wife and 2 kids) will be taking a short vacation to Windsor this weekend. As we've been to *most* of the wineries from Guerneyville to Ukiah there is no *need* to see those this trip. Aside from:
The Charles Schultz Museum
The Armstrong Redwoods
Luther Burbank House and Gardens
Matos Cheese Factory
are there any places of recommendation to visit bearing in mind the attention span of a 6yo boy and 9yo girl?
I suppose what I'm really asking is where can a bottom-dwelling rust hunter find a bucket full of chisels for $1 ? :~)
>You're defining "Santa Rosa" pretty broadly, since you're including Armstrong Redwoods, so let me add the town of Sonoma. There are several museums - the mission and the barracks are both right downtown, Vallejo's house just a few blocks away, and the depot museum the same.
Plus, a mile or so from downtown is Traintown, a complete miniature railroad with scale working trains about 2-3 feet high and cars that you can climb into and get towed around the property. I haven't been there in years, so don't know what it's like now - they used to have an actual steam locomotive in scale, pretty neat.
Oh, and your real agenda - get the ads (see link below, or if this doesn't work, go to www.pressdemocrat.com and look at the "classified" link in top right corner) and do your best. In general, I think your best odds will be east or west of Hwy 101, which stayed rural longer, although my $3 No. 62 a few years back was in a long-settled portion of Santa Rosa, closer to 101 - it's all a matter of fate and luck. Just don't get excited when you see "tools" in the ad listing - 50% of the time, it means one no-name Phillips screwdriver that's been used to drill holes in concrete.
Not many junk shops, and the antique shops seem to follow eBay and multiply by two, unless they multiply by three. I didn't find much in my recent (after some years) visit to the local flea market.
>We are staying in Windsor so I figured I would use the nearest "big" city as a reference. And hikes through the Redwoods are always a welcome expedition for wife and me.
Traintown sounds intriqueing for my kids...may have to check that out.
Just got back from Mount Storm Forest Products...WOW what a nice selection of timbers.