Letters to the Editor: September 2012

September/October 2012 [1]

Savvy VIA readers dish out their favorite beach town attractions, as well as their knowledge of plant species and wine.

More Reasons To Hit the Beach Towns

Best Beach Towns [2] (July/August 2012) overlooked one of the most unique places on the Coast. The Shelldance Orchid Gardens [3] in Pacifica, Calif., is a historic site on a hill along Highway 1. It has been open since the 1940s and continues to be a destination for horticulturists, orchid enthusiasts, collectors, photographers, and festivalgoers. The garden—filled with bromeliads, rare orchids, nesting birds, and a jungle of plants—is managed and operated by one woman, Nancy Davis.

Michele Coxon
Pacifica, Calif.

Stop at Duarte's Tavern in Pescadero, Calif., for a bowl of green chile soup [4]? The soup of my choice is definitely green; however, it’s the artichoke soup. Duarte's is famous for it and people drive from as far away as San Francisco for a bowl, and the crusty homemade bread.

George Dunn
Los Altos, Calif.

Pacific City, Ore., is not home to Haystack Rock. Haystack Rock is 65 miles north at Cannon Beach and not visible from this town.

Lauren Achtelik
Sacramento, Calif.

There are two Haystack Rocks [5] in the state of Oregon, according to a representative of the Pacific City-Nestucca Valley Chamber of Commerce [6]. They are located in Cannon Beach and Pacific City.–EDITOR

The Pelican Pub & Brewery [7] in Pacific City, Ore., not only has great fish-and-chips, but also has the best chili I’ve ever eaten. There’s no ground meat in this dish [offered seasonally], only big hunks of tender pork and beef, and savory black beans. It’s definitely not vegan!”

Tim Kuryla
Sebastopol, Calif.

Do you know what you’re looking at in the Best Beach Towns photo of the ocean and the rocks near Fort Bragg, Calif.? Few know that this gorgeous coastline is part of the California Coastal National Monument [8], the least known of the 102 national monuments in the United States. Along the 1,100-mile California coastline [9], more than 20,000 offshore rocks and small islands make up the national monument.

Ruth Sparks
Fort Bragg, Calif.

Wrong Bird in the Right Place

In your recent article The Go List [10] (July/August 2012), you identified a Hawaiian plant as a bird-of-paradise in a photo caption. It is actually Heliconia (sometimes referred to as "false bird-of-paradise”).

Lena Medina
Danville, Calif.

Sonoma County Wine in Guerneville

I have been a 17-year resident of Sonoma County and I worked in the wine industry for most of that time. I would like to politely point out that Guerneville, Calif. [11](July/August 2012), is in Sonoma County. Sonoma County is a spectacular place to find world-class wines. Once you spend time discovering wines all over Sonoma, head north to Mendocino and enjoy their wines too!

Jill Kennedy
Central Point, Ore.

You’re right. We’re off by a county. –EDITOR

wings of wonder in oregon

Many attentive VIA readers wrote to inform us about the closure of the Wings of Wonder in Independence, Ore. [12] (July/August 2012). VIA was just as surprised as you were to find out that the greenhouse closed in June 2012. We fact-check every article prior to print, and the owner of Wings of Wonder didn’t inform us of the decision to close. We apologize for the inconvenience. – EDITOR

This article was first published in September 2012. Some facts may have aged gracelessly. Please call ahead to verify information.