Lifestyle

Photographer Rick Tang braved the early February storms to make these images of the area surrounding Healdsburg. Click on any image and it will launch a full-size version; use your browser's "back" arrow to return to this page and the Image Gallery.

“We had to make a safety call. Without the bridge, there’s no safe way to get across the creek,” Skip Brand of the Lake Sonoma 100 said on Sunday afternoon. “The creek is 6-7 feet deep and raging right now. Plus, the wind picked up in the late afternoon and several trees came down, creating additional hazards.”

Sharp-eyed motorists have noticed a name change on a long white office building on Healdsburg Avenue, just a quick stroll away from the Quail and Condor bakery. The colors are still blue and white but the Bright Event Rentals sign is gone, and in its place the bold letters proclaim Russian Riverkeeper, now in its umpteenth home in Healdsburg, and still ready to Save the River.

Several local pizzerias have an unspoken bond running between their kitchens. Geyserville’s Diavola, the Matheson restaurant, Journeyman Meat Co., PizZando … even Big John’s Market. The common element is that they all purchased their pizza ovens from Mugnaini, a wood fire oven manufacturer in Healdsburg...

Now when most winemakers talk about “clones,” they’re talking about varietals selected for specific qualities, such as flavor, color or intensity. The Dijon clones of pinot noir or chardonnay are well known; but the canine clone of a winery dog is a new thing entirely.

As “Dry January” unrolls, it’s time to examine the physical side of fitness. With three larger gyms and a half-dozen smaller studios, the options for finding an appropriate level of fitness maintenance is up to you. Their offerings are multiple: mat-based barre, Pilates, cycling classes, yoga, strength training, HIIT, cardio dance, even sound baths and mitt boxing.

Earlier this month, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new advisory highlighting the connection between alcohol consumption and a higher risk of cancer. Alcohol use ranks as the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, following tobacco use and obesity, and is linked to an increased risk for at least seven different types of cancer. That's not good news for the wine industry.

Much has been written about the awarding of culinary stars, ratings of 90-point wines and the ascendancy of the million-dollar, two-bedroom home. But one award made to a Healdsburg business should not slip through the cracks—the naming of the Healdsburg’s location as North America’s “World Gym of the Year.”

After pizza was more or less invented in Naples as a sauced-up flatbread, it took the globe by storm when American G.I.’s returned from World War II, bringing a fondness for pizza that led to a Cambrian explosion of different forms we know now. These include traditional Neapolitan styles, thin crust in New York, Detroit squares, sheet pans and deep-dish variants in Chicago, to name a few. You can find them all in California... and then some.

The first major event that comes our way in 2025 is the annual Lake Sonoma Steelhead Festival, on Saturday, Feb. 8. This one-day science fair of all things steelhead (and their allies, anadromous and otherwise), draws about 10,000 people on its single day of exhibitions and activities to the Milt Brandt Visitors Center, Lake Sonoma.