If you are a regular reader of this magazine, you will notice that we have changed the name, from Destination Napa Valley to Destination. That is because this issue, Spring 2002, is the first that combines the counties of Sonoma and Mendocino with the Napa Valley. Rest assured, we have not reduced our coverage of Napa, we have simply added the two other areas that, together, make up this complex portion of Northern California.

For as many things as these three regions share – great wine, beautiful vistas, world class cuisine, and an amazing depth of people – we recognize that there are an almost equal number of things that set them apart. At Destination we are committed to celebrating and exploring both sides of a complicated equation. It is the diversity as much as the similarity that makes this expansion of the magazine exciting.

Take a sheet of paper, divide it into three columns and begin to make a list of the things that make the counties of Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino unique, one from the other. Before long you have a pretty good list. There are the Mayacamas Mountains, the Pacific Coast, sea lions at Bodega Bay, towering redwoods, the Russian River, the French Laundry and Babe’s Burgers, the town squares of Healdsburg and Sonoma, John Ash, the geyser at Calistoga, Sea Ranch, Opus One, herds of goats, alpacas and llamas, brandy distilleries, hidden wineries (and ghost wineries), the list goes on and on. Try to write it all down and as soon as you think you’ve finished you remember one more thing and it starts all over again. Most states don’t have a third of what these three counties contain. A third? They don’t have a tenth. That’s not boasting, it’s just a fact you confirm every time you glance out a window or go for a walk.

Look through this issue of Destination with that same eye, the eye that picks out the similarities and that delights in the differences. From talks with Julia Child and Chuck O’Rear, to closer looks at some of the wineries, restaurants and cafes of all three counties; to examining the works of art and lives of artists and artisans, taking a look at the movie business when it goes on location and strolling down literal and figurative paths that you might not have known about. Just as we continue to be surprised with what we find every time we put together this magazine, we also hope that it will be a guide to take you to the famous and also to the little-known parts of three magnificent counties.

While you may have come here with a schedule and an agenda, don’t limit yourself, because here, by the ocean, in the hills and in the valleys, it is what you find by luck and by chance that will shape your memories as much as anything else. It is the surprise, and your ability to be delighted by surprise, that will make this visit special, and bring you back time and time again. ¦