Like navigating a cloud. This is how to describe the road along Highway 1 on California’s famous Sonoma coast: on the one hand, turns and turns when the road follows the edge of the cliff can be agonizing; on the other, one lulls through prospects of cascading clouds over a bright blue sky that lies almost perfectly with the Pacific Ocean.
In Jenner, the rustic Timber Cove Resort seems to have come out of nowhere: a sea-fused forest worthy of artists such as black-and-white photographer Ansel Adams, who enjoyed capturing the wild nature of this secluded and just . . . . That’s my intention, too.
The fusion of this majestic view, this sense of area and natural salty air gently reminds us that true peace can still be discovered in America, in fact, peace is the main theme of this complex. Located on a rocky promontory next to it historical obelisk called the Statue of Peace. It measures more than 90 feet at the top of Salt Point National Park, California’s second-smallest, and dominates the cliff as a symbol of beauty, wit and tranquility.
Beniamino “Benny” Bufano, an artist and sculptor from San Francisco, built this concrete totem in 1962 in an artistic reaction to the protest against the Cuban Missile Crisis. It took him more than seven years to adorn the totem with mosaics, redwoods and lead, thus giving a representation of the “Virgin and child” and crowned by a carved human hand that welcomes and points to the sky. Sky. When considering this of peace and harmony, Timber Cove Resort’s project is clear: embracing the art of doing nothing.
Timber Cove, built in 1963 as a place of meditation and tranquility, architect Richard Clements Jr. gave Frank Lloyd Wright his inspiration for his biological architectural design, an A-shaped setting consisting basically of redwood and stone.
Nonviolent prospects made me hungry, so I took my grumpy abdomen to the terrace of Coast Kitchen, the hotel restaurant. A martini and a fountain of salty oysters from the west coast made it to the show.
Timber Cove chef Seadon Shouse knows how to spice up an ultra-rare haliton fillet, which was my choice as a dish; add a layer of pesto and crushed almonds, a handful of wild hen mushrooms and serve it on a truffled mashed potato, the latter at my request to update the risotto with farro. I swallowed it gratefully and returned these art paintings to the kitchen like a blank dish.
After dinner, I headed through the lobby at the back of the complex, where the fireplace seats offer the best genuine property to see the ocean and its canopy of countless stars. I continued this comfort on the terrace of my guest room, where a fuel home turned out to be a great comfort for cool nights and bloodless sunrises.
Breakfast can be ordered in the resort’s main lobby, reminiscent of a hunting lodge, with a moose wood chandelier and a stone home from the floor to the ceiling that gives it the atmosphere. After breakfast, I propose a walk along the beachfront trail on the property.
To say, there’s plenty to do here besides look away from the sea from the porch and dine on the resort’s extraordinary food.
As a hiker, I realize that there are many challenging trails at my disposal, however, I have my four-legged eldest partner with me, so staying indoors to record wonderful albums on Crosley Platinum is my most productive choice for entertainment.
In the middle of the afternoon, I ventured about 15 miles downhill to Jenner, where I headed to a clam chowver at the takeaway counter at Café Aquatica.
Next to the café is Tasting By The Sea, a small wine bar where wine lovers can order flights of more than 30 types of Sonoma County wine to a takeaway window, an Adirondack chair on the deck and drink with the sound of water; the Russian River flows into the Pacific right here.
Let’s face it, on the sonoma coast, everything you do here is overshadowed by the extravagant prospects of the cliffs leading to the infinite expanse of the ocean. And that’s a smart thing to do.
Charlene Peters is an editor who lives in Napa Valley. Send an email to siptripper@gmail. com.