I’d like to wrap up my series of blogs on our recent Sonoma Valley trip with snapshots of a few places we visited. We packed quite a lot into just a few days in Healdsburg and the surrounding countryside, and there’s certainly more to discover on our next trip south. Here, then, are a few more spots I would highly recommend if your travels take you to this lovely area: The Downtown Bakery & Creamery on the east side of Healdsburg’s Plaza offers all kinds of baked goods — and homemade ice creams, gelatos and sorbets — to provide a counterbalance to all the wine you may have been drinking. They offer a wide variety of breads in all shapes and sizes, cookies and desserts from simple to sinful, and even mixes and frozen doughs you can take home and bake yourself. And at 4:30 on weekday afternoons, all the fresh-baked goods are half price. Just get there a little early and grab a number, ’cause the word is out on this place! Just a block down from the central Plaza is a tasting room that offers more than just dry crackers to go with the wine they’re pouring. At Williamson Wines you’re treated with tasty little bites specially matched to each of the different wines you’ll taste. Aussie husband and wife Bill and Dawn Williamson proudly craft up to 20 different wines, and you can try most of them in spacious, welcoming tasting  rooms with plenty of tables and seats. You’re warmly greeted as you walk in the door, and the seating and that attitude let you know right away that you won’t be rushed through a quick flight of wines before your legs get weary. The complementary bites really illustrate the Williamsons’ belief that “wine is both a beverage and a condiment. . . . and it should help food express itself more fully.” What a treat! We had a fantastic dinner one evening in the Hotel Healdsburg at Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen. An elegant, soothing, modern space with a full bar and wide glass panels that can fold back to allow indoor-outdoor seating, the restaurant offers wonderful, seasonal menus and a very extensive wine list focused on local producers. A nice feature: there’s no corkage fee if you bring your own Sonoma Valley-appellation wine. Aside from a la carte items under starter, first course, entrée and dessert headings, one can order a three-course or six-course meal to which a tasting flight may be added. For just $34 we each ordered a three-course meal, but then we each added a first course — just too much sounded too good to pass up! We enjoyed a special tableside ceremony neither of us had experienced before: our sommelier “baptized” our glasses by carefully rinsing the inside of each bowl with a small amount of the wine as a precaution against any residual impurities left in the glass. The whole evening was delightful, including the live jazz combo that provided a pleasant background soundtrack. — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor