We did a circle tour today, down to Fairfield where we toured the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Factory and then it was off to Sonoma and the Napa Valley. We forget that this area was originally under Spanish, then Mexican rule. These early Mexican settlers overthrew the Spanish government in 1823, and the Mexican government issued a decree that the all church properties be secularized. General Mariano Guadelupe Vallejo was sent from Monterrey to achieve this and here he created the town of Sonoma, with a sedate and shaded Plaza (park) serving as its centerpiece. Early settlers came with the promise of free land but when they were denied and threatened with deportation, they banded together, calling themselves Osos (bears). On June 14, 1846, they arrested Vallejo at his home, proclaimed California a republic, naming this little town Sonoma its capital. They fashioned a bear flag from unbleached muslin, a red petticoat and a crude berry stained picture of a bear and raised it in the Sonoma Plaza. This revolt was short lived as the flag was replaced with the Stars and Stripes in July, however in 1911, the State Legislature adopted the Bear flag as the State flag. Today the City Hall in the center of the plaza flies the 7 flags this town has lived under. The original Soldiers Barrack are on one side of the Plaza and show the sleeping quarters for the men. The town's treasure is the Mission San Francisco Solana de Sonoma. Built in 1823, it is the only California Mission established under Mexican rule. I love Mexican style towns designed around the central plaza. It is beautiful. All the shops around the Plaza are in hundred year old adobe buildings and it is quite delightful. We stopped at the Sebastiano Winery in town and I decided to taste some wine. New rules - you have to pay $10 and then taste 7 wines. I declined - that is too much to sit drinking. The 17 mile long Sonoma Valley was the birthplace of the Californian wine industry with the early vines brought in by the early padres. There are hundreds of acres of rolling vineyards. We drove past the Napa Valley on our circle tour. We came upon Berryessa Lake, one of the largest lakes in Calif, a hydro electric project due to the large dam. As we looked at it, it dawned on us, the small ribbon of concrete below was the bridge that went over the end of our campground. We were 1/2 mile downstream from this massive body of water and Putah Creek was the run off from the dam. If it ever blew, we would end up in the Atlantic.
As we headed into Sacramento today, we saw 4 deer jump the fence and head up the hill. We thought they were very young deer but a local told us they were the native Calif 'black deer', a small deer.
In 1859, Capt. John Sutter , a Swiss emigrant, settled at the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers on a 50,000 acre land grant from the Mexican Government. The Town of Sacramento was laid out on his property in 1848 – the same year that James Marshall discovered gold near the south fork of the American river, to start the great California Gold Rush. Sacramento became a major supply center for the northern Mother Lode country. The rich vein of gold called ‘La Veta Madre’ ( Mother Lode) by the Mexican miners, laced the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains for 120 miles.
We drove 50 minutes into Sacramento and met friends at Vince’s Ristorante for a delicious lunch and visit. You would not believe the huge size of the entrees. I took 2/3 home. Next we went to the Campbell Soup Store, where products are offered at minimal prices to employees. That was quite interesting and we did buy some stuff. Gas at Costco was $2.93, apparently has just gone up.
Our next stop was at the Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park. This Second Empire Italiante Mansion built in 1847, has housed California’s Governors and their families from 1903 to 1967. Arnold and Maria don’t live there. He flies in for State business. The woman at AAA who told me this seemed quite disappointed in him. It is an impressive looking wooden structure smack in the middle of old Sacramento. Then we went to the State Capital itself 2 blocks away, situated in a 40 acre park which was planted with 800 trees and shrubs of 200 varieties from all over the world in 1870. It looks comparable to our Legislative Building in Victoria. It was built 1860–74 in a style similar to that of the White House in Washington D.C. It houses 40 Senators and 80 Assembly members for their 55 million people. It is an impressive building with lots of marble and a statue of Columbus appealing to (Spanish) Queen Isabella under its magnificent Dome which is 210' above street level. Californians wrote the first California State Constitution in Monterrey in 1849 and became the 31st state in 1850.
Sunny ORE turned to a little cloud and fog in CA, still a good drive. Here I am driving, with a semi passing me. At Dunnigan, we went down the 505 then west on State Hwy 128 to Winters CA. We drove 12 miles further to the AOR Canyon Creek Resort. It was beautiful driving through the hills and valleys, all golden grass and oak trees on the hills. This resort is on the banks of the Putah Creek and you can watch geese in the water, see deer on the hills and wild turkeys nesting in the trees. We drove back into Winters for some groceries and I said to Ron when we came to Main St., shall we? So I drove along in a new subdivision until it came to a dead end. Halloween decorations are out and it is a very tidy town, I’m sure it’s left over from the gold rush days. The old buildings in town are all brick and on one corner there is a portable brick oven on a cart.There are many packing plants for the produce and nuts from the area. One thing I know – I would never live in a canyon. There are hills about 200’ surrounding us and although the sun rises at 7 a.m. it takes until 10 a.m. to reach us. It is very pretty here on the banks of the Putah River with Mallard ducks and geese swimming by. I am amazed by the incredible diversity of the trees, oak all over the mountains and probably 20 more types.
ng. The Spanish started building 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma in 1769 - 1823, gold was discovered in 1848 and it became a state in 1850 so there's lots of history around. We saw Mt Shasta with no snow and Shasta Lake still at a low level but the boat ramp was in water. Bonus. We passed the Dealer with trucks in every color from hot pink to purple. We get a kick our of some of the names, today we passed Easy Rd. and Mott Rd. named ofter my friend I presume. We ate dinner at the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning looking at a beautiful sunset - that is one of the things we like so much about our lifestyle, I bet you didn't go see the sunset tonight. We're always right there.
