We Took Our Snoopy-Obsessed Toddler To Santa Rosa & It Was Pure Peanuts Magic

When the chance came to visit Santa Rosa, California, and experience the Charles M. Schulz Museum, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Our little one is ~deep~ in a Snoopy phase. We’ve been rotating Peanuts classics with The Snoopy Show on Apple TV+ because they’re such great low-stimulation wind-down shows before bed (parents included). So Peanuts Gang vibes were definitely what we wanted out of a family trip, and Santa Rosa delivered: walkable cozy dining, cute cartoon sightings around every corner, and plenty for a little kid to get into.

Getting there was definitely the most stressful part because our once-dozing darling of the skies had grown into a ball of energy bouncing around the cabin. Thankfully, the flight was only an hour long from our home base of Los Angeles. Once we hit the road the rest of the way in a rental car, our drive from San Francisco to Santa Rosa washed away the stress as we road-tripped over the water on the Golden Gate Bridge and into the lush greenery of Sonoma County. Visit Santa Rosa hosted Scary Mommy at the Art House Hotel and put together a family-friendly itinerary built around the Charles M. Schulz Museum and the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County, with some of the town’s best food mixed in.

First up was the Poppy Bank Epicenter, where we got to shake loose energy from all the travel sitting. There’s a toddler play area, an arcade, bowling, and Sky Zone, where if your kid is too restless to sit for food, you can pack it up and head over to an activity to tire them out. Ask us how we know. We’re in the restaurant training era, and she was just not having it. Still, Victory House at Epicenter was a great spot; we got massive burgers with fries, plus kids' dino nuggets to go. After a workout on the awesome 4-person Omni Motion VR screen games, we headed back to the hotel to put her to bed and reheat our food.

Here's where Art House really shines for families. Once our little one knocked out, we were able to make use of a full kitchen and sit down at a real dining table to eat like actual adults while still keeping an eye on our snoozing kid. Have you ever eaten cold pizza on a hotel bed in the dark because the baby finally fell asleep? Yeah, then you get why this felt like such a luxury.

The next morning, my husband picked up coffee from Land and Water Coffee, a local roaster with flavorful and sense-awakening brews. It gave us the energy we needed to keep up with our kid, who was raring to go. Our breakfast spot was the Americana, a farm-to-table breakfast nook where we filled up on fresh veggie-packed, cheesy omelets and our daughter happily demolished chocolate chip pancakes with chicken sausage and a milk.

Everything was either walkable or just a short drive away, which meant we could really plan around our kid’s schedule instead of the other way around. Our first big outing of the trip was to The Children’s Museum of Sonoma County, just steps from the Schulz Museum (on the deck for the next day). And it just so happened to be her first-ever children’s museum, so we were just as excited for our precocious kid.

Established by a group of mothers in Sonoma, including Lucasfilm luminaries, the children’s museum grew from a traveling trailer of imaginative play and education into a permanent nonprofit space focused on making fun accessible to local families regardless of income. There’s an admission fee, but families who qualify, including WIC and SNAP recipients, can have it waived through the museum’s family access programs.

The level of love and diversity in every experience was so deeply moving. We started my kid in Totopia, a soft-play woodland nook, because we were nervous to let her roam right away. The staff there were great — not just with her, but with us too, gently coaching Mom and Dad to a place where our anxiety could subside. And with so many safe spaces built for creative play, it didn’t take long for all of us to relax.

Next up was the Wild Zone, a purposeful recreational area full of sticks, climbing, and wobbly unstructured natural play where kids can basically FAFO under supervision. So if they lose their balance by maybe climbing something too ambitiously, they learn consequences. Our kiddo needed that lesson! An experimental FAFO space? Genius, truly.

Outside, our daughter fell hard for the bubble and water tables, because what toddler doesn’t yearn for splish-splashing? Take it from us: You’ll want to pack a change of clothes, because we definitely had to change her before going inside. Back indoors, she “flew” a rocket to space, “cooked” in a retro diner, and “doctored” in the Science & Medical Lab. Then it was back to the hotel for naps all around before heading out on foot to our next family adventure.

Before dinner, we hit Noble Folk Ice Cream and Pie Bar (who says you can’t have dessert first), a cute and tasty stop. We shared scoops of their heritage flavors — Strawberry Miso, Butterscotch, and Cornflake Maple — until our daughter spotted the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and it was game over. My pie-loving husband grabbed a to-go slice of the seasonal maple chocolate walnut. Afterward, we walked over to La Rosa Tequileria & Grille for a fresh coastal seafood dinner and margs (for Mom and Dad) before all three of us passed out, full from the day's activities.

Our final day in Santa Rosa brought us to the main event: the Snoopy and Family exhibit at the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Since we had a flight to catch later that day, we swung in for sandwiches at Mac’s Deli (they’re legendary for a reason) and coffee from Espressioso's Coffee, a Latin-inspired roaster specializing in ethically sourced beans.

After getting in a little playtime in the cafe's toddler corner, we made our way to the museum. As animation fans, we geeked out seeing the comic strips up close and learning the story behind Snoopy’s litter of siblings, the focus of the current exhibit. We especially appreciated that it spotlights Bill Melendez, the director and animator behind the Peanuts TV specials — including the one about Snoopy’s origin — as such an integral part of making Peanuts a staple in pop culture.

It was so cool to see how those relatable Snoopy family moments came to life, from being printed on local paper strips by Schulz to the screen by Melendez. In particular, the "Snoopy's Reunion” episode really captures the spirit of Schulz’s work, and how Snoopy’s backstory only made fans love him more. I didn’t know much about Melendez before this visit (including that the Latino animator was the voice of Snoopy himself), and learning about his mark on animation history genuinely moved me. He and Schulz created a vision of childhood still beloved today.

Now I get to share that with my daughter, who is fully in her cartoon dog era. She was surrounded by puppies everywhere she looked, and the giant plush displays of Snoopy with Spike, Belle, Olaf, and the rest of the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm litter gave me full-blown cuteness aggression. Thankfully, there’s a gift shop stocked with Peanuts merch from around the world.

The museum also has art rooms where you can sit down and draw the Peanuts gang, which our daughter loved. Special tables let you trace classic strips and put your own spin on them; I made one to commemorate my little one’s first visit. We also hammed it up in the photo-op installations, including (yes!) Lucy’s psychiatry booth. Nearby, there’s an ice rink where you can skate just like the gang, plus The Warm Puppy Cafe, a Snoopy-themed comfort-food spot serving pot pies, pizza, chili, and hot cocoa.

The whole trip had the gentle, unhurried pace of an idyllic visit to Charlie Brown’s world. All that was missing was a jazz score by the show’s iconic theme composer, Vince Guaraldi! It was lovely to dig into the history of Peanuts and its timeless take on childhood, which Santa Rosa holds onto with such a charming specificity. We’re already plotting a return trip to see if the Great Pumpkin shows up in the fall, or to catch some Charlie Brown Christmas magic.