While I love Wine Country living, this doesn’t preclude me from getting perturbed about small town life. On a recent visit to Brainerd Lake, Minn., I took a carefree bike ride from one end of Gull Lake to the next via the Paul Bunyan Trail. The ride was strenuous at times but most often relaxing. I didn’t feel my life was in peril, not even once. The same can’t be said for when I hop aboard my cruiser in our neck of the woods, a feat that’s become more treacherous given the road construction all summer long (with threats for continuance well into harvest season).
But back to biking. Why, in an area as financially loaded as Napa County, do we still not have suitable bike lanes? Let’s take, for example, what should be a smooth ride from Calistoga to St. Helena. Aside from the Washington Dunaweal bike path, there’s no real bike lane to be found. Otherwise, you’re left with something that just barely constitutes a shoulder. This summer, Calistoga was ranked as the third most expensive place to stay and play in the country. Why can’t we find the means to expand our roadways to better accommodate bikers? Highway 29 is the worst offender of all. If you choose to pedal your way on this route, all you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best.
The Vine Trail Coalition, a nonprofit headed by Chuck McMinn, is dedicated to the worthy cause of building a 44-mile, multiuse trail from Vallejo to Calistoga [See "Walk the Walk," July 2010]. So far, we have one mile in Yountville, the Napa Commuter trail, and a connector section along Solano Avenue that’s in the works. I don’t know whether to be enamored or annoyed. In some ways the progress is amazing, given what the Vine Trail is up against. In another, it’s not enough. All that’s needed to make this happen is a cool $20 million. While it feels like a hefty price tag, when you survey the onslaught of hotel expansion plans underfoot, this form of alternate transportation may move from nice-to-have to essential.
Ever expanding
Luxury hotel-speak seems to be all the rage this year. Countless plans are in various stages of discussion. With Bald Mountain Development alone, there are three biggies. In May, the Calistoga City Council approved plans to tear down the Silver Rose Inn and Winery, which could be replaced with a hotel, spa and winery as well as residential homes. Is this the cherry on top of the sundae or a recipe for more overcrowded roads? Certain days, as I crawl through the St. Helena bottleneck toward Napa, I feel as if I’m back in Los Angeles on the 405 (minus the nine other lanes). Bald Mountain also has development eyes on St. Helena’s vacant parcel at Adams and Library Lane. Never one to be sidelined by the Upper Valley, Napa has grandiose plans of its own: a St. Regis at the south end of town, while the seduction of a 351-room hotel (what could become a Ritz-Carlton) downtown still lingers. While I love luxury as much as the next gal, you have to wonder what this means for our roadways. Here’s hoping the Vine Trail has made more progress by the time any of these would-be projects come to fruition.
Expansion part deux
It’s hard to believe that we were once amid a stifling recession, given the explosion of restaurants that opened this year and last. Up Valley, we have French Blue, Goose and Gander, Himalayan Sherpa Kitchen and La Condesa. Then there’s Alex in Rutherford, Redd Wood in Yountville plus Tarla and Ovenit in Napa, plus facelifts at places like Oakville Grocery and Cindy Pawlcyn’s reimaged Brassica (formerly Go Fish!). And that’s the short list.
Roadway rants
Nobody can argue about the dismal state of Highway 29 and Silverado Trail. You can almost give yourself a concussion with all the bouncing in and out of potholes. Thankfully, we got busy with road repaving along the Calistoga and St. Helena stretches with more to follow. PG&E’s plan to hide power lines underground, along with the addition of a turn lane by the Charter Oak section in St. Helena, once slated for July, was postponed until September. While I’m pleased with the prospect of a smoother ride, I have to question the timing. Are summer and fall really the best times of year given the gridlock that follows? We’re trying to entice tourists to check out all the new high-end hotels and restaurants, not scare them back home.
Then we have the saga known as the Highway 29 Elm Tunnel, a small-town fiasco at its very best—or worst, depending on who’s scoring. The iconic natural tunnel dates back to the 1800s, when the Beringer brothers planted the first trees. Our modern day replant began in February and went on and off again for months until the last of the 44 trees were planted in May. The chronicles that followed played more like an episode of "Saturday Night Live" than relevant town news. The cast of characters: Caltrans, the Public Works Department, city officials and many locals, all of whom were ready to roar—especially when trees started dropping. As the count of dead trees neared 20, the finger wagging began.
One of my favorite quotes: “It’s been a pretty traumatic process,” said Public Works Director John Ferons, as he described the trees’ journey from Oregon to St. Helena. Like a good “Sopranos” episode, nobody wants to take the fall.
When talks turn to “high mortality rates” and “high-stress location,” I rub my eyes and wonder what the heck we’re talking about. Could it be the fallout from having no bike lanes? No—it’s the trees! Regardless of where you stand on this particular rant, come November, dead trees will be replaced by new ones just in time to contribute to harvest gridlock. Small town life doesn’t get better than this.
