Outdoors
in a nature preserve by a lake and in rambling galleries in modern
versions of farm buildings and in a 19th century manor house, DiRosa
Preserve exhibits a huge and rather startling collection of California
Bay Area contemporary art. You will see cars hanging in trees,
a sixty-five-foot tall stack of file cabinets, hundreds of paintings,
trumpeting peacocks and grazing cows and sheep, some of them art,
some living and breathing. All of this exists in an idyllic countryside
environment of vineyards and olive trees, meadows and palm trees.
On the southeast end of the town of Napa, on two low mountains,
Skyline Wilderness Park is a world of hilly woodlands and meadows
where hikers, bikers, horseback riders, picnickers, disc golfers
and campers spend time. Wild turkey and deer, owls share the wild
with visitors. Winter mushroom expeditions, springtime wildflower
walks and summer waterfall splashes are among the reasons to explore
this park.
Form the upper reaches, you can see nearly the entire Napa Valley
from Mount St. Helena to the Suisun Bay.
The article on this page is adapted from the book, Backroads of the California Wine Country by Karen Misuraca (www.karenmisuraca.com), published by Voyageur Press.
Photo Credit: The pictures on this page are by Lisa Moore. www.studioponderosa.com