2 Best Sights in Napa and Sonoma, California

Here's your best opportunity in the western Wine Country to wander amid Sequoia sempervirens, also known as coast redwood trees. The oldest example in this 805-acre state park, the Colonel Armstrong Tree, is thought to be more than 1,400 years old. A half mile from the parking lot, the tree is easily accessible, and you can hike a long way into the forest before things get too hilly. During hot summer days, Armstrong Redwoods's tall trees help the park keep its cool.

The pleasures are pastoral and intellectual at author Jack London's beloved Beauty Ranch, where you could easily spend the afternoon hiking some of the 30-plus miles of trails that loop through meadows and stands of oaks, redwoods, and other trees. Manuscripts and personal artifacts depicting London's travels are on view at the House of Happy Walls Museum, which provides an overview of the writer's life, literary passions, humanitarian and conservation efforts, and promotion of organic farming. His wife Charmian's equally compelling story is also documented. A short hike away lie the ruins of Wolf House, which burned down just before London was to move in. Also open to visitors are a few outbuildings and the restored wood-frame cottage where London penned many of his later works. He's buried on the property. The park hosts hot-ticket musical revues and comedies produced by Transcendence Theatre Company each summer.