"Beauty and Family ...." a Santa Rosa Travel Page by kymbanm

I've traveled to Santa Rosa for decades to visit family. For some reason, I never thought about building a VT page until now; Bad, bad VTer!

My family has mutligenerational roots in northern California, as our elders have gotten older, and coastal living became to diffcult, they moved south and inland to Santa Rosa. So to see them, I see Santa Rosa.

These visits aren't to see the sights; these visits are to spend time with those I love. Despite this, we eat out, visit the gardens, and even get into the mall once in a while.... So I guess I DO have something to share about this lovely town.

Family is so important to me, and all of my relatives. So we take time to wander about and see everyone we can when we make it out to Santa Rosa :) As time passes, we have fewer and fewer elders in our clan ... so the time we DO have together becomes more and more precious to us.

This pic is from 2004, and 2 of the lovely people in this photo have since passed. As a matter of fact, their joint memorial service is what will bring me back to Santa Rosa is just a few weeks. Bittersweet .......

Back row: Auntie Grace, moi, Cousin Jo B, Aunt Dorothy, Cousin Paul
Front row: Uncle Joe, Dad

Santa Rosa is the governmental center of Sonoma County. Sonoma County encompasses almost 2000 sq miles of various ecosystems, and is home to over 200 wineries. Most folks use Santa Rosa as a gateway to Wine Country / Napa Valley, as the vineyards of the region surround this beautiful city. This area became covetted during the California Gold Rush in the 1800's. It was during this boom that explorers discovered that the soil was rich and could bring more money than ellusive gold flakes paned from local streams. Finally incorporated in 1868, Santa Rosa saw gold, agriculture, and the railroad create it's current place in California as a gateway city for much tourism.