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Old 03-07-2010, 05:25 PM
 
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I am thinking of relocating to Wine country Sonoma/Napa and leaving the snow and cold of Chicago. What is life like for a single woman in her early 50's? I would like to rent a small home. I am changing careers and would like to work as an esthetican at a spa and/or a winery or tend bar. Any advice?
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Old 03-08-2010, 09:08 AM
 
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Default Also moving there

Hi. My family and I are moving to that area. If you get some useful information, please share. My husband will be working between Santa Rosa and Sonoma and we're thinking Glen Ellen might be nice. We have a daughter in elementary school also.
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Old 03-08-2010, 09:22 AM
 
Location: 38°14′45″N 122°37′53″W
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Cajunlilly-
Decide which county first. Sonoma and Napa countis are next to eachother, yes, and both are Wine Country, but they are totally different.

Reneeperrync-
Glen Ellen is lovely but I'm not sure that's where you want to be with one child and brand new to the area.
Have you been out this way at all before?
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Old 03-09-2010, 11:24 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by reneeperrync View Post
Hi. My family and I are moving to that area. If you get some useful information, please share. My husband will be working between Santa Rosa and Sonoma and we're thinking Glen Ellen might be nice. We have a daughter in elementary school also.
i have a child and lived in santa rosa several years ago---i would consider sonomay town itself. it's very family friendly,and smaller/more low key than santa rosa [where the traffic is quite terrible,actually,alot of stop and go streets. It's a small city that has continued to grow-you know, one of the ones where the city simply added street lights to two lane roads? Also, the schools in SR are not very good. Sonoma the town has some good schools, and a couple of charter schools, as well. And you can take back roads to either SR or Petaluma, in either direction, to take advantage of their resources.

For the OP: I also recommend Sonoma town, for spas, as well. It's mellow, except for the tourism, which brings crowds here and there. And you can live on the outskirts of town if you would like semi rural, and find cheaper housing that way [if that's an issue].

Also, Calistoga is a spa/hotsprings resort town; you can look for jobs there, as well. Folks sometimes work there and live in Lake County [ie,Middletown-not the worst commute,but not the best,either-but COL is lower)],or even St. Helena,which,incidentally, is another small town you might find work in.

Good luck! The area is phenomenal. I am MUCH more partial to Sonoma County, and it's closer to the ocean.(:

Last edited by lrmsd; 03-09-2010 at 11:26 AM.. Reason: typo
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Old 03-09-2010, 11:29 AM
 
2,145 posts, read 5,051,343 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cajunlilly View Post
I am thinking of relocating to Wine country Sonoma/Napa and leaving the snow and cold of Chicago. What is life like for a single woman in her early 50's? I would like to rent a small home. I am changing careers and would like to work as an esthetican at a spa and/or a winery or tend bar. Any advice?
small homes-you can probably find a guest house on someone's property, for anywhere from 800-2500. lol. seriously, housing runs the gamut. You may also find something on the outskirts of town, or a more rural town, but it will be a small-ish cottage (perfect for one, but not a 'house' per se), that may well have some land/gardens around it. Again, price ranges vary, as do conditions. The area, while being less than SFO and Marin, of course (what isn't?), is still not 'cheap' by any means. Look on craig's list for some housing samples.(:

And, keep in mind the fantastic, gorgeous, amazing year round produce and outdoors you will experience. And you will have Mendocino, Marin and SFO at your fingertips, as well. IMO, the cost is more than worth it, for the area.
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Old 03-09-2010, 06:48 PM
 
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Actually for the type of work you will be looking for both Napa and Sonoma would be fine. However, I'm not sure that there is a lot of work to be had right now.

I lived in the town of Sonoma as a single woman in my 40's. Great place to live and lots of free things to do. But many of the events were very high priced. Know of at least two homes that are rentals that sit right in the middle of vineyards! Both rather small but have everything you would need. Course neither person is moving out anytime soon!

I currently live in the Santa Rosa area and frankly feel that there is more to do here that is affordable. I too am single and well into my 50's. Guess a lot would depend upon the kinds of things you enjoy doing as to where to live.

Personally I prefer Sonoma County over Napa but I think that is because it is a bit more developed. Though I have friends in Napa that love it.

Well now I realize that I have not been much help to you at all have I? Sorry. Again though job wise you have wineries and spas all over Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties. I guess the main thing would be to determine where you can actually find work and then also take a look at the activities you enjoy and see where those are.
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Old 03-10-2010, 05:58 AM
 
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Default thanks for response

Hi,
Your response was very helpful. How has the recession hit the wine/tourism industry out there? Are people still doing destination weddings?
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Old 03-10-2010, 11:55 AM
 
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Not in the business myself so really not sure about the weddings. I did hear just a quick news report that about 400 vineyards and wineries are currently having financial difficulties and may well be underwater or filing bk. They did not mention any in particular but I'm presuming they are probably the smaller, newer ones. The big ones are pretty established, though I do know they are having some financial problems as well.

I think tourism is still fairly good though probably not as it was several years back.

There is a website winebusiness dot com that is a job board for the wine industry. You might want to take a look at that. Generally speaking the entry level jobs at the wineries are tasting room employees. Need to know a bit about wine in general which sort of makes sense. Last year I noticed quite a few jobs for wineclubs but have not noticed anything about those lately.

Personally I'm not sure that I would move here without a job to go to. Unless of course you have a good amount of money socked away! You can also go to the newspaper website PressDemocrat dot com and check out the Business Journal as that will give you some good info. Course all of that is primarily for Sonoma County but that is where I live. I'm guessing Napa also has a business journal of some sort. Can't recall the name of their newspaper but a google search should find that for you.
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