Mayacamas Range

My brother Rick and his wife Meg arrived last evening for a quick visit. We met some friends from the Bay Area at a restaurant called Boonfly in the Carneros region of Napa County. It is a bit out in the middle of nowhere, but perfectly located about halfway between us and has wonderful food.

The only drawback to the plan was that we were considerably delayed because traffic all along  all along two lane Highway 12,  was down to one lane, the other one taken up with huge trucks with huge trucks and chippers cutting down burnt trees.. It is the only direct route between Santa Rosa and Sonoma  and is lined by vineyards wineries and tasting rooms. Traffic is going to be unpredictable for quite awhile. The positive side is that perhaps the powers that be will realize that adding more traffic in the form of wineries, event centers, tasting rooms and hotels in the beautiful Valley of the Moon,  might not be such a wise idea....

The hills on the north side of the road are the Mayacamas range  and my quick shot from an intersection reveals what the mountains on all sides of us from Santa Rosa to Napa look like. It could be worse. There are already reports of rare wildflowers that only appear after a fire beginning to bloom for the first time since the last fire in 1964. As soon as it rains, the grass will begin to come up.

The worst parts are still the twisted wreckage of one time homes. We haven't been able to bring ourselves to drive through the two decimated subdivisions yet, even though the road through one of them is a main route across town. Unlike Highway 12, there are several alternatives.