Napa Valley Culinary Capital, Sonoma Arts & Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin

Yountville was founded in 1855 by George Yount, the first American settler to receive a Mexican land grant in the Napa Valley (1836). The historic cemetery at the north end of town, still active, contains Yount's grave alongside the graves of the valley's early settler families — a surprisingly affecting document of 19th-century California settlement history in a town now dominated by haute cuisine. The 1837 George Yount cabin, relocated to Lincoln Avenue, is the oldest European-built structure still standing in the Napa Valley.

Thomas Keller's Yountville bakery, occupying a converted 1920s building on Washington Street — produces the croissants, brioche, macarons, and TKO cookie sandwiches that supply Keller's four Yountville restaurants. Open to the public for retail since 1998; arrive by 9 AM for the freshest croissants. The pain au chocolat and the seasonal fruit tarts are the bakery's technical showpieces.

A Champagne-method sparkling wine estate built in 1989 as a replica of the 18th-century Château de la Marquise in Champagne, France, by Claude Taittinger's family. The Carneros District's foggy, cool climate (the coldest growing area in Napa Valley) produces the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir used in the estate's sparkling wines, the only Napa AVA appellation suited to Champagne-method production. The terrace tasting is the most European-feeling wine experience in California.

A Napa institution on CA-29 since 1993, serving Italian bistro fare in a formal garden setting — wood-fired pizza, house-made pasta, and a wine list that covers the full Napa Valley appellation. The Donna Scala's signature dishes (roasted chicken, crab cakes, wood-fired pizzas) have not changed in 30 years and remain excellent. The outdoor garden terrace is heated and used year-round.

The Gothic Revival Victorian home built in 1852 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo — the Mexican military commander who governed Alta California and was the most powerful political figure in California at the time of American annexation. Vallejo named the property 'Lachryma Montis' (Tears of the Mountain) for the natural spring on the grounds; the house, Swiss Chalet storehouse, and formal garden survive intact and are operated as a state park. The contrast between Vallejo's ornate American-style Victorian and the adobe buildings he commanded earlier provides the most vivid single site for understanding the transformation of Mexican California into American California.

The Benziger estate in Glen Ellen offers a 45-minute biodynamic tram tour through the estate's demonstration vineyard — the farm uses biodynamic principles (composting, predator habitats, cover crops) and has converted 85 acres of the surrounding hillside to biodynamic certification. The tour explains the farming philosophy in concrete terms; the tasting in the cave follows. Benziger was one of the first Sonoma County wineries to pursue full biodynamic certification in 1994.

Sondra Bernstein's Glen Ellen wine bar and café — the more casual sibling to the Girl & the Fig in Sonoma, serving seasonal California food with a notable wine list featuring bythe-glass Rhône varieties, Chablis, and Grüner Veltliner alongside the obvious Sonoma producers. The braised lamb shank, the house-made charcuterie, and the roasted beet salad are the menu constants.

The last major project Frank Lloyd Wright designed before his death in 1959 — a 580,000-square-foot county government complex that extends across three hilltops as a single continuous structure. The Administration Building was completed in 1960 — the last public building designed by Wright, who died the year before its dedication. Wright's 'bridge-building' concept runs the building as an arc between the hills rather than imposing a rectilinear form on the landscape; the central spine of offices and halls is topped by a gold anodized aluminum spire and a distinctive blue roof. The building appears in the films THX 1138 and Gattaca. Self-guided tours are available during government business hours; the adjacent outdoor amphitheater hosts the Marin Farmers Market on Sundays.

A Puerto Rican restaurant in downtown San Rafael that has been a cult institution since 2007 — arroz con pollo, pernil (slow-roasted pork shoulder), and mofongo (mashed plantains with garlic and pork crackling) served with house-made plantain chips and seasonal aguas frescas in a cheerful, loud, communal dining room. The lines at lunch can reach the sidewalk; it is worth the wait. The most culturally specific and delicious lunch in the North Bay.

The best-preserved Chinese fishing village in the United States — a camp established in 1874 by Chinese immigrants who built a grass-shrimp harvesting operation on San Pablo Bay, employing 500 workers at its peak and shipping dried shrimp to China. The camp was forced to close by discriminatory federal legislation in 1905 and by the decline of the shrimp population; the last occupant, Frank Quan, whose family had maintained the camp continuously, died in 2016 at age 89. The original wooden shacks, nets, and boats remain on the pier; the park's 1,500 acres of oak woodland and bay shoreline are accessible via 30 miles of trails.

A San Anselmo Mexican restaurant that has been the most consistently excellent in Marin County since 2005, serving Oaxacan and Mexican regional cuisine sourced from local Marin and Sonoma County farms — wood-grilled meats, hand-pressed tortillas, moles made in-house, and a tequila and mezcal list that reflects genuine regional Mexican production. The dining room on San Anselmo Avenue is warm and unpretentious; the kitchen handles the full complexity of Mexican regional cooking with skill and seriousness.