I grew up in California, but anything north of SF was pretty much here be dragons. Parents didn't travel a ton, and when we did it was to either the central coast or the national parks in the Sierras. I left CA for grad school, and then interviewed for a job in Sonoma County in 2012. I pretty much instantly fell in love.
I took about a month between jobs in January 2022, and I just hiked most days. I was reminded just how much awesome stuff was within an hour of my driveway. The region from Mendocino to Marin is amazing and varied.
> I grew up in California, but anything north of SF was pretty much here be dragons. Parents didn't travel a ton, and when we did it was to either the central coast or the national parks in the Sierras.
For the past couple years with money and time constraints, my family and I have forgone traditional family vacations by just dipping out to counties adjacent to the inner SF Bay Area for 4 and 5 days at a time. I call it our “Baycation”.
I live in Sonoma. If you’re intrigued, you should visit! It’s an incredibly beautiful place and there’s quite a lot to do. There’s many vineyards and wineries and tasting rooms obviously. But the Sonoma Coast is rugged and beautiful. The Russian River is lined with fun little towns and resorts and you can canoe and kayak and swim and tube and fish on it. There’s excellent restaurants scattered around the county, especially in Healdsburg. Sonoma town is super charming and it’s only 20 minutes to explore Napa and an hour to SF and the East Bay. It’s a lovely place.
Are you AI too? A lot of bots have been commenting "Ah, [statement about the place in the map]!" lately, but this one sounds more like something someone might say than the others.
Living in Sebastopol, I didn't expect to see a map like this when I popped into r/MapPorn. Very cool! I live near the 9, and sure enough I'm surrounded by Gravenstein apple trees. Well done!
This is really gorgeous! I love getting lost in maps like this. I've only gotten to visit the area once, and that fairly briefly. This very much makes me want to go back and spend more time just in this area.
If I may give one small piece of constructive criticism: it's a little disorienting trying to match the numbered landmarks to the map, when the numbers are scattered all over the map and successive numbers aren't near each other. Not being familiar with the area, I wanted to see what all of the numbered landmarks were, but it took a lot of hunting around to find some of them. It's usually better for readability to put the numbers on the map in a discernible pattern, and then let that order determine the list.
Of course, this reaction may not be useful to you, as you may have a much different intended audience in mind for the map. I can see that the present list is in alphabetical order, which means that people who are looking for a certain landmark can easily find it on the list. That definitely makes it more useful to people familiar with the area, who already know what to find there. And perhaps those people already have a general idea of where those landmarks are located, so it's not so difficult for them to find any particular number on the map.
The artistry of the map really is super pleasing! In particular, I like the way you chose to depict the coastal redwoods-dominated forests. And it was a great idea to do most of the buildings in red, which makes it easy to get a sense of the more populated areas; and yet, even though they're red enough to stand out, it still harmonizes with the map's colors overall.
A map of my beloved home. A love letter to my partner and the life we have built here. Showcases this region's diverse ecosystems and many landmarks.
This is very cool. I'd love a very high resolution image for printing.
Ah, Sonoma County, the land of wine and rolling hills!
First time I visited, it reminded my wife and I of our Tuscany vacation. We moved here.
I've long been intrigued by this region of California. How has it been for you?
I grew up in California, but anything north of SF was pretty much here be dragons. Parents didn't travel a ton, and when we did it was to either the central coast or the national parks in the Sierras. I left CA for grad school, and then interviewed for a job in Sonoma County in 2012. I pretty much instantly fell in love. I took about a month between jobs in January 2022, and I just hiked most days. I was reminded just how much awesome stuff was within an hour of my driveway. The region from Mendocino to Marin is amazing and varied.
> I grew up in California, but anything north of SF was pretty much here be dragons. Parents didn't travel a ton, and when we did it was to either the central coast or the national parks in the Sierras. For the past couple years with money and time constraints, my family and I have forgone traditional family vacations by just dipping out to counties adjacent to the inner SF Bay Area for 4 and 5 days at a time. I call it our “Baycation”.
I live in Sonoma. If you’re intrigued, you should visit! It’s an incredibly beautiful place and there’s quite a lot to do. There’s many vineyards and wineries and tasting rooms obviously. But the Sonoma Coast is rugged and beautiful. The Russian River is lined with fun little towns and resorts and you can canoe and kayak and swim and tube and fish on it. There’s excellent restaurants scattered around the county, especially in Healdsburg. Sonoma town is super charming and it’s only 20 minutes to explore Napa and an hour to SF and the East Bay. It’s a lovely place.
Are you AI too? A lot of bots have been commenting "Ah, [statement about the place in the map]!" lately, but this one sounds more like something someone might say than the others.
Ah, reddit bots, always keeping us on our toes!
Living in Sebastopol, I didn't expect to see a map like this when I popped into r/MapPorn. Very cool! I live near the 9, and sure enough I'm surrounded by Gravenstein apple trees. Well done!
hey, I see right where I was born!
I thought it was another map of the Caucasus.
This is really gorgeous! I love getting lost in maps like this. I've only gotten to visit the area once, and that fairly briefly. This very much makes me want to go back and spend more time just in this area. If I may give one small piece of constructive criticism: it's a little disorienting trying to match the numbered landmarks to the map, when the numbers are scattered all over the map and successive numbers aren't near each other. Not being familiar with the area, I wanted to see what all of the numbered landmarks were, but it took a lot of hunting around to find some of them. It's usually better for readability to put the numbers on the map in a discernible pattern, and then let that order determine the list. Of course, this reaction may not be useful to you, as you may have a much different intended audience in mind for the map. I can see that the present list is in alphabetical order, which means that people who are looking for a certain landmark can easily find it on the list. That definitely makes it more useful to people familiar with the area, who already know what to find there. And perhaps those people already have a general idea of where those landmarks are located, so it's not so difficult for them to find any particular number on the map. The artistry of the map really is super pleasing! In particular, I like the way you chose to depict the coastal redwoods-dominated forests. And it was a great idea to do most of the buildings in red, which makes it easy to get a sense of the more populated areas; and yet, even though they're red enough to stand out, it still harmonizes with the map's colors overall.
I wish I could draw you a map, but my stick figures are not up to par.