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Bill Bikes My bicycling expeditions and jaunts |
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Lovall Valley, May 2019
Up from Sonoma: A Photographic Log
17 May 2019, 15 miles
It's not supposed to rain around here in May! Rainfall total for the entire month averages under an inch. Ha! On Wednesday alone approximately twice that amount poured down upon us. And that was just one day out of the current rainy spell, with more rain falling as I type these words, and more in the forecast for the next few days.But we had a short break Friday, so I drove the Ogre over to Sonoma for a quick ride. I ended up pedaling out of town on Lovall Valley Road, which was terra incognita for me. That unexpectedly turned into a steady uphill into the Mayacamas Mountains between Sonoma and Napa. When I finally got up there, Lovall Valley was very nice—lots of fancy estates with huge homes surrounded by vineyards and rows of olive trees. It looked quite Mediterranean, and I had the feeling I was back in Italy.
But, instead of Lovall Valley, maybe they should have named it Lovall Plateau.
I left the Ogre by the Depot Park Museum at the old station in the town of Sonoma.
Ready to hop a slow freight train with Boxcar Willie?
A fancy mailbox on Lovall Valley Road.
Can I get an ornithologist?
Elsewhere in Sonoma County, most of the buildings that look like this are wineries with tasting rooms.
In Lovall Valley, they all seem to be private homes. Mansions? Estates? Manors? Palaces?
But also a few tumbled-down sheds.
Lovall Valley Road eventually dead-ends and turns into a private drive. Can't get over the last ridge and down to Napa.
I continued up the driveway for about a quarter of a mile until I came to a big gate—closed—and had to turn around.
After zooming down Lovall Valley Road at high speed, I decided to visit Buena Vista Winery.
In years past, the fountain at Buena Vista was the venue for outdoor productions of Shakespeare, accompanied by picnic dinners and bottles of wine, with actors and actresses wandering among tables sampling everyone's food and vino while performing.
Shakespeare's comedies are always funnier with bottles of wine.
Back in downtown Sonoma, this is the fancy carved door at the big Sebastiani Winery.
A little too much shadow reaching down from the top.
Sonoma Plaza architecture, part one.
Sonoma Plaza architecture, part two.
Sonoma Plaza architecture, part three.
Sonoma Plaza architecture, part four.
This is part of the Sonoma barracks and mission, the northernmost in the chain of Spanish missions in California.
The monument in Sonoma Plaza commemorates the raising of the Bear Flag when American settlers declared independence from Mexico in 1846, founding the short-lived California Republic, also known as the Bear Flag Republic.
Events here in 1846 are closely related to events in the same year in Monterey, down in Jack and Janet's neck of the woods.
Summary
Date: 17 May 2019
Time: 1:30 - 3:30
Weather: 65 - 70° F, mostly cloudy then clearing, breezy
Route: Sonoma - Lovall Valley - Sonoma
Distance: 15 miles
Bike: Ogre
Riders: Solo
Comments? Questions? Suggestions? I'd like to hear from you.
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