Old California....

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7:13 am - Thursday - 51º F, humidity 96%, wind 4 mph out of the west.....partly cloudy skies, but the sun is visible!  Today is getaway day.....heading eastward today towards the Sierras and South Lake Tahoe.

Based on prior weather forecasts we had expected Wednesday to be a day of rain, which is why we stayed an extra day here in Petaluma......we do not like driving in the rain.....who does, right?  As it turned out Wednesday was a rather nice day, so we decided to do some more site seeing......less than a couple of miles from the Elks Lodge is the largest privately owned adobe house in Northern California called the 'Vallejo's Petaluma Adobe'.......and it is LARGE.....

.....there is a an entrance fee of $3 per adult ($2 per child over 2), but the tickets you are given are also good at the Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, and at the Vallejo home in Sonoma if used the same day......

.....we spent about 40 minutes touring the house and the grounds.......there was a lot of quite mature prickly pear all over the property......

.....there is a nice little creek flowing through the property which separates the adobe from the parking lot......

.....from there we drove about 11 miles over to Sonoma, CA to see the one mission we had never seen.....Mission San Francisco Solano......the end of the El Camino Real (King's Highway) and the 21st and last California Mission......it was founded July 4, 1823, however, the building we toured was rebuilt from 1911-13, and is considered an authentic restoration....of course, the restoration is over 100 years old now.....

 A quite modest mission in comparison to the others we have seen

 The sanctuary

.....directly across the street from the mission is the Sonoma Barracks which housed Spanish army troops.....

 View of the town square from the second story balcony  of the barracks

......there is a nice museum on the ground floor which is definitely worth the time......from there we drove over to the Vallejo home about 4 blocks away from the barracks.....

The granery

The Vallejo Home

Behind the home is the still functioning reservoir

.....by the time we finished touring the Vallejo home it was after 3 pm and we were feeling a little peckish, so we decided to head back to Petaluma and visit a local brew pub called 'Pub Republic' (Yelp gives them 4 stars on 444 reviews!) for Happy Hour, so everything is at half price, but truth be told the beer and food was so good we would willingly have paid full price!  They have a lovely alfresco dining area for which we immediately headed, of course.....

 

 Lovely alfresco dining....we had the place to ourselves

Bleu Cheese and Bacon Sliders and Fries with Bacon and Chipotle Aioli appetizers

....we both had a chocolate porter (I forget the brewery name) to 'chase' the great food.......we always say the food must live up to the beer, and this food lives up to the beer in spades!  We had a lovely time talking and enjoying great pub food.....a perfect way to end a very enjoyable afternoon!

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