(Northern) California Parkist

The dogs and I are avid park visitors. Join us as we document our wanderings, mostly in northern California. We visit all jurisdictions -- United States National Parks, State Parks, County, Regional and City Parks -- we love open spaces!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

California State Parks: Lachryma Montis (Sonoma)



I was the docent for three hours this afternoon at General Vallejo's home (built in 1851 or so). The park was quite busy and I gave several tours. This photo shows the tree-lined boulevard leading to the house (on the left, but not visible) and the chalet (the building on the right). The chalet was originally built in Switzerland, dismantled, each piece was numbered, the entire building was shipped around the Horn and then rebuilt on the site. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

California State Parks: The Barracks (Sonoma)

The local docents met in the barracks this morning for their quarterly meeting. I snapped this photo of the old carreta that stands in the open space behind. There's another one at Petaluma Adobe, but that facility has been closed on weekends because of staffing shortages and a hiring freeze. Docents were trying to figure out ways to pitch in and help out during this period of financial difficulty.