A few weeks ago on our trip to Sonoma County wine country, my husband and I decided to take half a day off from winetasting and checked out some other products for which that part of California is justifiably becoming well known: cheese. From our frequent visits to our favorite Oregon cheese shop in our hometown — Rogue Creamery — we had already been exposed to several great cheeses from a handful of small producers down south. On a brisk, breezy afternoon with big gray and white clouds scudding above bright green rolling hillls, we headed out from Santa Rosa to explore part of the Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail. We headed south on U.S. 101 and got off in Petaluma, planning to head toward the Pacific Coast on the Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Road. Our first stop was in downtown Petaluma, and what a charming historic old town district the city has! We drove past two- and three-story 19th-century stone storefronts (the city experienced little damage in the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco) housing all manner of interesting businesses (including a “Seed Bank” housed in what appreared to be an actual old bank building). Two structures which really stood out were a classic movie house and a gorgeous, twin-towered, stain-glass-windowed ediface of a Catholic church. We stopped in for sandwiches and a little cheesetasting at the Spring Hill Cheese Co. (and their own ice cream for dessert), enjoying some wonderful cheddars and jacks made from the milk of Jersey cows, which boasts a higher butterfat content than that of other dairy cattle. Then we continued south and west out of town, passing block after block of beautifully maintained Victorian and Craftsman-style homes. I made a mental note to plan on spending a full day (at least) in this charming little community on our next trip to the area so that I can wander the shops and the older neighborhoods and drink it all in. We delighted in the pastoral, peaceful landscape as we drove several winding miles to the Marin French Cheese Company, claiming the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating cheese factory in the United States.  Known for its handcrafted Bries and Camemberts (under the Rouge et Noir brand), the company boasts grounds surrounding the shop, tasting facility and factory complete with a duck pond, gardens and picnic grounds — a nice thought for a warmer day. We were able to try a great range of cheeses and struggled mightily to narrow our purchases to fit into the confines of our small cooler. (Another note for the next trip: bring a bigger ice chest.) Our afternoon ended all too soon, but during our return drive we drank in the views of cows grazing in pastures bright with new grass and spring wildflowers, olive groves, rustic barns and even a little two-room schoolhouse still very much in use. I was so pleased to have seen these perhaps less-well-known-than-the-vineyard scenes of Sonoma County . . . less well-known but certainly as lovely, and a pleasant change. — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor