All you need is love!
It’s a little trite, but I’m a gal and I love Valentine’s Day. I love Valentine’s Day in Sonoma County too. Celebrating love – whether that’s love for your significant other, children, friends, parents, siblings, the world at large or your damn self is a great idea. We need more love in the world, kids.
I rounded up ideas on how to celebrate while supporting Sonoma County whether you live here or not.
1. Buy flowers. One of my favorite authors wrote “She wore flowers in her hair and carried magic secrets in her eyes.” Obviously, she was writing about me. And obviously, flowers are a classic Valentines Day gift.
- California Sister, Sebastopol: my favorite florist, hands down. For Valentine’s Day (and every day) they offer classic arrangements as well as edgier modern ones featuring locally grown flowers. For V-day, they have arrangements starting at $55. Call ahead for the best selection. Feel free to order one for me too.
- Dragonfly Floral, Healdsburg: this is a six-acre flower garden that specializes in living arrangements including succulents, airplants, etc. For Valentine’s Day, they’re offering a 10% discount if you order before February 7th!
- Grohe Florist & Greenhouse, Rohnert Park & Santa Rosa: a traditional floral shop, they’ve been family owned and operated in Sonoma County since 1902! That is a feat all on its own, but their shop as amazing customer service to boot.
2. Eat chocolate. A balanced diet is chocolate in both hands. I didn’t come up with that, some clever meme-artist did.
Locally made Mexican style chocolate is sure to win the heart of chocolate lovers everywhere.
- Volo Chocolate, Windsor: do you remember Zin Restaurant in Healdsburg? Well I do. And the same folks behind it started Volo after a trip to Mexico where they fell in love with the country’s chocolate. They use Mexican products and their philosophy is to treat chocolate like food, not candy. It works. You can buy them online or at Jimtown Store, Bella Vineyards and Wilson Winery. Or find them in your room at The Astro!
- Firefly Chocolate, Windsor: responsibly traded and hand crafted chocolate. They’re pretty hippy dippy – which is perfectly Sonoma County. They offer different flavors of drinking chocolate, which is hot chocolate’s hotter, darker, cooler and richer sister.
- Wine Country Chocolates, Sonoma & Glen Ellen – they have wine infused chocolates including cabernet, champagne, port and zinfandel. Go check out one of their two tasting rooms. While you’re at it, sign up for their truffle club because how fancy are you?
- Sift Dessert Bar, Santa Rosa, Cotati, Petaluma (and Napa & San Francisco too!) – if you don’t know Sift, you are missing out. Cupcakes, macarons, cookies, etc. All adorably delicious.
3. Drink bubbly. Because it’s fun and romantic and you know you want to.
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A sparkling wine flight at Breathless.
Breathless Wines, Healdsburg: head here for a glass or a flight. Their tasting room is cute and their wines are good. Started by three sisters as an homage to their mother, trying their bubbly is a great way to celebrate love.
- J Winery’s Bubble Lounge, Healdsburg: this winery’s upstairs tasting room with a view of the property’s beautiful gardens. There are hand blown glass chandeliers and plush couches to lounge on while you explore their flights and nosh on cheese pairings.
- VJB Cellars, Kenwood:- try out their sparkling in their traditional tasting room, get a hot pizza from their wood fire oven or snag delicious picnic fare from their market and spend the afternoon on their patio.
4. Go outside. If flowers, chocolate and wine aren’t your scene…who are you? Sort of kidding, but not really. If you’d rather celebrate your love by getting a little sweaty, get your mind out of the gutter and check out my recommendations for getting outside.
Map for Solar System Walk
- Hike to Pluto, Kenwood – for real. Inside Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, the Robert Ferguson Observatory created PlanetWalk, a scale model of the solar system to give visitors an idea of the spatial relationship between the sun and planets. Yes, it’s been shrunken a couple of billion times, but it’s a very unique way to see a beautiful part of Sonoma County.
- Forest Zipline, Occidental – fly through the Alliance Redwoods and ride seven zip lines and two sky bridges. Sonoma Canopy Tours is super popular with locals and what better way to show each other you care than by zipping through a forest at 40 miles an hour. They operate rain or shine, which is great for the sometimes wet weather in February.
- Bodega Bay Lodge, Bodega Bay- if your idea of being outdoorsy includes a short walk to the hot tub while enrobed in plush terry cloth, this is for you. Stay the night at this gorgeous resort on the rugged Sonoma Coast and take a soak in their infinity edge hot tub that overlooks the ocean. It doesn’t get more romantic than that, my friends.
