Intimacy abounds at Sonoma County wineries. Take Forestville’s Joseph Swanwinery, which has been around since 1967 and still serves its award-winning wines out of a tasting room that’s really an old wooden-barrel barn. But in Sonoma County you’re just as likely to stumble across extraordinary wines being crafted in someone's backyard. Yes, it's increasingly famous for its premium wines, sharing the pedestal with Napa Valley for luxury cult collectibles like the waiting-list-only bottles from Kistler Vineyards, A. Spanning more than one million acres from the Pacific Ocean to the rugged Coast Range, Sonoma County defies typecasting. In Southern California, meanwhile, Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park has its own Peanuts connection, with a Camp Snoopy section of child-friendly rides, a Snoopy HQ gift shop and Snoopy-themed live shows-which are often on ice. Peanuts fans can see statues of Snoopy and the gang scattered around the town of Santa Rosa (there are four at the local airport, also named after Schulz).

Sip some hot cocoa at the rink’s Warm Puppy Café, or wander through the neighbouring Snoopy Labyrinth, a contemplative path in the shape of the beagle’s head. Cross the road and you can tie on some ice skates at Snoopy’s Home Ice, an indoor rink that predates the museum by decades-Schulz had it built in 1969. The museum complex is not just about exhibits, either. Check the museum’s events page for hands-on activities, such as craft-making for children or animation workshops for all ages. The museum is home to a 100-seat cinema that shows short films about Schulz, though most of the cinema schedule is devoted to the deep inventory of Peanuts specials, from seasonal classics to evergreen specials like Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown. (Of course, you can buy contemporary memorabilia in the on-site gift shop.) There are also tribute pieces, like the huge tile wall by a Japanese artist-depicting Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown-and an array of Peanuts memorabilia, such as the first Snoopy plush dolls from the 1950s. One focal point of the museum is a re-creation of that workspace where Schulz penned so many comic strips, but the museum’s collection also includes thousands of original artworks, along with related photographs and letters.

Schulz Museum is a testament to the comic strip’s deep California roots.Ĭharles Schulz first moved to Sonoma County in 1958, and his studio sat on what became the site of this museum, which opened in 2002, two years after his death. The iconic characters of the Peanuts comic strip may have lived somewhere around Minnesota, but their creator, Charles Schulz, lived for decades in Santa Rosa-and the large Charles M.

Charles schulz museum shop