We have a week’s worth of activities and a free downloadable map of all of these bucket list locations- we provide a map with all of our destination videos, that way, when you are ready to travel and want to go to any or all of the destinations on this video, all you have to do is download the map and you will have ready access to everything in this video for your trip.
A week’s worth of Bucket List Worthy things to do for a grand total of One Hundred Dollars…this is definitely Bucket List Worthy on a Budget…and yes, Bucket Worthy and Budget can go together and we will show you what you can do in wine country for 100 dollars or less.
We will start off with wine…this video isn;t about wine tasting but stay to the end for a recommendation for a wine pass that you can buy to do your wine tasting on a budget too.
Our recommendation for Bucket List Worthy on a Budget is the following:
CornerStone Sonoma- This is home to the world famous Sunset Gardens and Outdoor Test Kitchen. The entrance is free. Once inside you can tour the gardens and grounds and there are small boutique wineries and restaurants on site. The gardens are inspired by various designers and all have different themes. The plants are labeled and feature interesting displays. It is peaceful to walk among the gardens and you can enjoy a glass of wine from one of the wineries while you stroll. There are plenty of green spaces for kids to play, or you can bring a blanket and find a quiet spot to enjoy a picnic but no outside food or drinks are allowed, so purchase your food and beverage from one of the many onsite restaurants or walk up locations. On some nights, the gardens will feature live entertainment which would add to the experience. There are also cute boutique shops on site which make shopping for something unique and gardenEY fun. Natalie fell in love with some of the great sculptures but there are candles, gifts and more. Oh…and keep your eyes peeled…almost next door is the Vintage Airport Company – which offers scenic open cockpit flights in historic aircraft over the vineyards- barrel rolls are optional- this doesn’t fit in our Budget Friendly category but it definitely is Bucket Worthy.
Microsoft Default Location- This picture spot is one of the most most widely seen photos of all times. This is the location of the Microsoft Windows, XP default wallpaper. We have it marked on our free downloadable map on our website. The backstory goes as the following- a photographer driving down highway 120 looked out of his window and noticed a beautiful field of green grass and blue sky. He pulled over to take the picture and uploaded it to a stock photo site. He got a call from Microsoft to see if they could use his photo for its operating system. He sold all his rights to the photo for an undisclosed sum…and lived happily ever after… I am sure.
Sonoma State Park in the town of Sonoma is another free stop with a bucket of history attached. Here you will see Mission San Francisco Solano which is the northern most and last built mission of all of the California 21 Missions built. In addition, right next door you can see the Sonoma Barracks and some other historic buildings and hotels in downtown Sonoma.
Fort Ross which is a long and winding drive north above Mission San Francisco Solano on the coast, preserves a Russian Settlement in California in the early 1800. The location of Fort Ross was selected to serve as an outpost to serve as a trading base for furs from Alaska and to grow wheat and other crops to ship back to the Russian Colony in Alaska. The location was selected due to its relatively good weather, access to wood for building and its distance from the last settlements of the missionaries. Dogs are allowed on a leash in some of the areas but not inside the historic sites. There are picnic tables. Admission to Fort Ross was 8 dollars per car. – but keep your receipt because this admission will also get you access to our next recommendation- Salt Point.
Then 8 miles above ForT Ross, continue on to Salt Point State Park- During the mid 1800’s sandstone from Salt Point played a vital role in the construction of the streets and buildings of San Francisco. Along the marine cliffs of the Cove you can see enormous slabs of quarried sandstone, drill holes and scattered eye bolts left long ago by stone workers.
Tafoni is a natural phenomenon common to sandstone. Tafoni refers to a honeycomb type erosion caused by the seasonal wetting and drying of the sandstone making all sorts of cool designs in the cliffs. Dogs are allowed on a leash. Admission here was free with our Fort Ross receipt.
Another free stop is Goat Rock Beach which is the home and birthing site of harbor seals. Goat Rock, near the mouth of the Russian River, is known for its scenic shoreline and easily accessible sandy beach. Picnic tables and restroom facilities are also available. Goat Rock beach is home to a colony of harbor seals. Note: For your safety and that of the animals, please stay 50 yards from the seals, especially during pupping season (March-August). State Park Seal Watch Program docents can be found here on weekends during the pupping season. Due to the protected status of the seals, NO DOGS are allowed on Goat Rock Beach. Also, cool rock formations- reminds us of Cabo San Lucas is here as well as other hiking and kayaking opportunities.
Jack London State Park and the ruins of Wolf House ruins are another not to be missed stop on your trip to Sonoma. Once known as Jack London’s “Beauty Ranch”, the Park’s 1400 acres include The Londons’ Cottage, the House of Happy Walls Museum, the Wolf House ruins, the historic ranch buildings, and over 29 miles of trails. Free Docent led tours are included with your nominal admission fee of 10 dollars per vehicle available most weekends so be sure to check the schedule in advance. If you wish to explore on your own, you can really get to know so much about this famous author. We learned so much on our visit. By age 30 London was internationally famous for his books Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea Wolf (1904) and other literary and journalistic accomplishments. Between 1900 and 1916 he completed more than 50 fiction and non-fiction books, hundreds of short stories and numerous articles. Several of the books and many of the short stories are classics and still popular; some have been translated into as many as 70 languages. Among the best known are Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf, Martin Eden and John Barleycorn. Living and owning land near Glen Ellen was a way of escaping Oakland, from the city way of life he called “the man trap.” But, restless and eager for foreign travel and adventure, he decided to build a ship, the Snark, and go sailing around the world, serializing his adventure. The Snark voyage made it as far as the South Pacific and Australia but was curtailed due to his ill health. Discouraged by health problems and heartbroken about having to abandon the trip and sell the Snark, the Londons returned to the ranch in Glen Ellen.
By August 1913 London had spent between $50,000 and $75,000 on the Wolf House and the project was nearly complete. But, On August 22 final cleanup got underway and plans were laid for moving the Londons’ specially designed custom furniture, thousands of books, collections from travel, and personal belongings into the massive stone and redwood residence. That night, a ranch hand noticed a glow in the sky half a mile away. Wolf House was burning. By the time the Londons arrived by horseback the house was ablaze, the tile roof had collapsed, and even a stack of lumber some distance away was burning. Nothing could be done. On November 22, 1916, 40-year-old Jack London died and his ranch lives on to tell and showcase his story. We were fascinated by his life of adventure.
The Charles M Schultz Museum another amazingly talented writer is also located in Sonoma county. The amazing things to see at the Schultz museum in santa rosa begin outside. Charles Schultz born in Minnesota loved ice skating and ice hockey..when he moved to California he missed ice skating so he built a rink and made a point to support ice hockey and ice skating. You can see Snoopy’s home ice rink and you can also see a collection on stones stamped by famous skating legends who visited the rink…including Dorthy Hamel. The museum features comic strip history and artifacts from Charles Schultz including a replica of his office where he created the comic strip, a history of the characters, examples of how the characters changed over time and other unique bits of Peanuts history. Admission to the Schultz Museum is approximately 12 dollars per person.
Believe it or not, Robert Ripley of Riply’s Believe it or not is buried in Sonoma county. His grave site is located in the Santa Rosa rural cemetery. Not only is his grave located here but the cemetery also has pamphlets for a free self guided walking tour. And we learned a little back story of a connection between SChultz and Ripley…Charles Schultz first published work was submitted to Ripley when Schdultz was in high school.
Cyclisk is another quick photo stop along your travels which features a 65 food tower made of gears, rims frames and other loose parts of 330 junker bicycles.
And if you are looking for even more whimsical art make sure you visit Sebastopol’s Florence Avenue art trail. Really cute and quite different. You can grab an ice cream in the historic downtown and stroll Florence Ave or you can drive the tiny art lined street. This is a worthwhile jaunt to see how something so simple can change a neighborhood and make it unique.
Well, this is not all…there are more things to do but between wine tasting and touring for a week, this is all that we had time to do. What questions do you have about travel in Wine Country? Questions or Comments below…we are picking a commenter below to win a wine brella…but while you are there…consider also subscribing… the commenter will be selected by random on July 4 so enter by subscribing and commenting below- full entry details are in the show notes below. What are the stops in this video that you will be adding to your bucket list? .
Now, as far as wine and why not mention the star of the show …check out a wine pass for Sonoma, we like that the pass offers unlimited wine tasting and you can buy the pass by the day.
More updates are constantly being added.. Links for our free map and wine tasting pass are in the links below…like and subscribe for updates on our next destination video- Lake Tahoe…which is coming up next…and we also do updates on other travel related information…if you want to keep motivated to complete your travel bucket list, consider subscribing to our channel and be a member of the Bucket Brigade…a group of travelers dedicated to Bucket List Travel experiences.