If Lee's gathering starts on the 20th, which is Sunday, some of you might want to plan a weekend stop-over in Napa. Here are a couple of options:
Skyline Wilderness Park
2201 Imola Avenue, Napa
707.252.0481
Hours: Monday - Thursday 9 am to dark
Friday - Sunday 8 am to dark
http://www.ncfaa.com/skyline/skyline_park.htm
Skyline Park is an 850-acre wilderness area at the southeast corner of Napa. It's managed by a non-profit organization formed to protect the area. You'll find lots of wildlife, including deer and wild turkey.
Skyline has over 25 miles of trails for hiking, biking and equestrian use. The two-and-a-half mile main trail leads to Lake Marie at the eastern end. There's also an alternate route along the ridge trail which is a much better workout, but is not for those out of shape. From this trail on a clear day, you can see San Francisco Bay, Mt. Tamalpais and Mt. Diablo. Beautiful.
Skyline also offers picnic and barbecue areas, an RV park, and tent camping. Daily visitor's fee is $5.00 per vehicle for hiking and picnicking, $6.00 per vehicle for mountain bikes and horses. RV camping is $25-$27 per site, and tent sites $8.00. The best place to hike in Napa.
Calistoga
Bothe Napa Valley State Park
3801 North Saint Helena Highway (Highway 29)
Calistoga CA 94515
707.942.4575
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=477
Bothé is just north of Bale Grist Mill, and the two parks are connected by a one-mile trail.
The nearly 2,000 acre park has excellent trails along Ritchey Creek and through beautiful redwood groves. It offers 50 camping areas either near redwoods along the creekside, or among the oaks and manzanita on sunny slopes above the creek. Campsites are also available for groups, hikers, bicyclists, and one site is fully wheelchair accessible. Picnic areas and an outdoor swimming pool are available.
The Native American Plant Garden, Wappo People, is located next to the Visitor Center. Many of these plants are still used today by the Wappo People.
Day use fees are $5.00 per car. Camping is $16 on the weekends, $15 during the week. It's a wonderful place for all ages and the loveliest public place to hike in the entire valley.
Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=481
actually in Sonoma County, between Napa and Hwy 101. There is horseback riding here, also a very cool observatory with night viewings, called Robert Ferguson Observatory,
www.rfo.org
All of these places are approx 2 hours from the Mendocino area, and would be a good place to camp and be within 1 hour of San Francisco, or hang out in the Napa Sonoma areas drinking wine and eating fine meals (not to be confused with hanging out in Mendocino and Pamplin drinking and eating...)
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:24 pm
...), and then a bunch of us could just mosey on up the coast highway, maybe stop for a nght at the drive-thru tree park in Leggit, and if we just have to ... 
... maybe another overnight at one of the campgrounds along the Avenue of the Giants (or, maybe even Gene Barker's place up in Whitethorne). Remember how much fun it was touring out to Minden in '05? We'll just do a mini-tour to the IRG ... 
Wow! The state of California is my favorite getaway and I will definitely be taping into your local knowledge!! Thanks much! I am printing out your post and sticking it in my California Map for later use. And I hope I can email you if I find myself in an area not mentioned in your post.
Come on Lee. Don't do that i'll have to much time on my hands. Every one knows old folks got to do all the fun things they can get in this life time!