Napa Valley

Many people who I have met on my travels have asked me about the Napa Valley. Since I hadn’t been there for about 35 years, I decided it was time for a trip back there. There are many tours leaving from San Francisco to the Napa Valley. I chose the one–day Grayline Tour. Grayline picked me up from my hotel and took me to their tour staging area at Fisherman’s Wharf. There were so many fellow tourists signed up for this tour that Grayline had to put two buses on it. After such nice sunshine in San Francisco yesterday, today was its more normal summer weather––chilly and overcast. It was still overcast when we arrived about an hour later at Napa Valley. E

Napa Valley

Napa Valley

The scenery in Napa Valley reminded me of what you see in the Santa Barbara wine country––vineyards and brown hills. The hills are only green during the raining season and revert back to their brown grass cover in the summer.

Napa Valley

Kirkland Winery

There are over 300 wineries in the Napa Valley. The valley is 5 miles by 35 miles. We were first taken to a visitor’s center for a snack/bathroom break. There was a store there also which had crackers out for you to dip in an olive oil concoction. This was very good and I bought several bottles of the dipping oil for gifts. Next on to the Kirland Winery. We were given a demonstration of how we should hold our wine glasses, check for impurities, etc. Then we got to taste the wine––included in the tour fee. I didn’t like any of the wines, probably because this was not a great winery. The problem with going on these tours is that they visit wineries that welcome tour groups and most of the best wineries do not. They feel it brings them down in class.

Kirkland Winery

Madonna Winery

By the time we arrived at the Madonna Winery (two tour buses were already there when we arrived, but they were about to leave), the sun was shining and it was getting very warm––good for the grapes. This was a small winery and I found two red wines that I liked and bought a bottle of each. I also paid $5.00 extra dollar to sample their special reserve wine––my mouth actually puckered after I took a sip of it (I didn’t buy it!).

Madonna Winery

Madonna Winery

We were allowed to walk through the vineyard. The grapes here are picked in August or thereabouts. The owner of the vineyard did tell us that the best red wines are found farther north in the valley as it is hotter there.

Madonna Winery

Madonna Winery

Close–up of some of the grapes.

Madonna Winery

On the Road

We didn’t see any real sheep here but we got to see these fake ones.

On the Road

Sonoma

We stopped for lunch in the town of Sonoma. The Sonoma State Historic Park is here and borders the town square. One of the buildings in it is Mission San Francisco Solano, one of the original California missions.

Sonoma

Mission San Francisco Solano

This is a very small mission and one of the two owned and maintained by the State of California (the other one is La Purisima Mission in Lompoc. I never was able to find out which was the second mission and was very surprised when I walked into this one and saw the uniform of a state park ranger. I felt like I had made a great discovery). This mission marks the northern end of the Mission Trail of 1523–1823, 300 years of Spanish–Mexican settlement. The trail’s southern terminus is in Guatemala and it transversed Mexico and went into the present–day United States. Mission San Franciso Solano was dedicated on July 4, 1823, by Padre Jose Altimira. It is the northernmost of the Franciscan missions and the only one that was established when Mexico was independent––not under Spanish rule (California was part of Mexico at this time).

Mission San Francisco Solano

Mission San Francisco Solano

The outside corridor.

Mission San Francisco Solano

Mission San Francisco Solano

The church in the mission.

Mission San Francisco Solano

Mission San Francisco Solano

Close–up of the altar. Indians painted the original designs in the missions. These are now the Jorgensen watercolors of the Missions of California––I do not know anything about these watercolors (at least one of the California missions still has unretouched, original Indian drawings on its walls).

Mission San Francisco Solano

Mission San Francisco Solano

The pulpit.

Mission San Francisco Solano

The Barracks

In 1834, secularization orders for the mission were issued by the Mexican government. Military commandant Vallejo carried them out and the mission became a parish church. These are his barracks.

The Barracks

The Barracks

Inside the barracks.

The Barracks

The Bear Flag

Statue in the town square commenorating the raising the of the Bear Flag. When Vallejo came to secularize the mission, he also created the town of Sonoma. Settlers were promised free land here but later they were denied the the right to own the land. So a group of them, calling themselves the Osos (bears), arrested Vallejo and proclaimed California a republic on June 14, 1846, made Sonoma its capital, and raised their new flag––the Bear Flag with a picture of a bear on it, which became later the California State Flag. The revolt was short–lived because California became part of the United States several weeks later (on July 9).

The Bear Flag

Sonoma State Historical Park

This park covers 49 acres and has more than a dozen early California buildings in it. I didn’t have time to see all of them, but here is one. The Sebastiani Building dating back to 1833 and made into a movie theatre.

Sonoma State Historical Park

Sonoma State Historical Park

The ticket lady in her booth.

Sonoma State Historical Park

Sonoma State Historical Park

Old houses in the park.

Sonoma State Historical Park

Viansa Winery

Our next stop was at the Viansa Winery which is a replica of a Tuscany villa. It was a pleasant place to spend some time, but I didn’t care for any of the wines here. Viansa was just taken over by the first winery that we visited––Kirkland.

Viansa Winery

Viansa Winery

Another view of the vineyard and the Tuscany villa. From here, we traveled back to San Francisco and to chilly temperatures and overcast skies. There was so much fog surrounding the Golden Gate Bridge that we could hardly make out that we were actually on it. Keith and I ate that night at Nick’s at Fisherman’s Wharf. We both had Dungeness crab and the famous San Francisco sourdough bread––delicious. We walked around Fisherman’s Wharf a bit, but it became really cold and windy and we returned to the hotel.

Viansa Winery

Avila Pier

The seafood market––that is Brian in the photo.

Avila Pier