Vacaville, gateway to the wine country

chocolate lab sits at table with bottle of wine

Photo Credit: Liz Anderson Ready for some wine tasting? The verdant Suisun Valley, about 20 minutes from downtown Vacaville, is home to numerous wineries that welcome canine guests in their picnic areas. Wooden Valley Winery’s courtyard patio is an especially pleasant place to sit and sip with your pooch. Read more.

Vroom over to vacaville

Panoramic view of Lagoon Valley Park in Vacaville, California, USA, featuring oak tree and a lake and pedestrian walkway around it, from above

Lagoon Valley Park, Vacaville.

Sometimes the places in our own backyard are the least explored. And for many Northern Californians, Vacaville, a familiar name on Interstate 80, is one of them. Read more.

Bark for benicia

Photo by Cristina Glebova.

Yelp, we thought that seeing this Solano County town in the No. 4 slot on the Dog Fancy list would elicit yowls of surprise. Yet behind all those happily wagging tails in Benicia is a community of dog lovers who worked hard to create amenities such as Phenix Community Dog Park, and a pair of leash-free beaches on the Carquinez Strait at the edge of downtown. Read more.