johnboystravelblog

Thursday I visited the Marin County Civic Center which was designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

This complex is so big it is next to impossible to find a vantage point to get it all in one photo.  Here is a scale model of the main building (there are also buildings on the property at the fairgrounds, where the Marin County Fair just concluded with July 4th fireworks, and a nearby outdoor amphitheatre).

The original design called for the roof to be gold (to blend in with the local mountains and to conform with California’s motto as “The Golden State”) and the spire to be blue.  Those color choices were ultimately swapped, which I think turned out very well.

Thursday I visited the Marin County Civic Center which was designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  Here are additional photos:

Inside the building the long corridors include atriums with plants and skylights:

Workers were in the process of renovating the blue domed roof:

This is a fountain located outside the second floor cafeteria:

And a view looking out from the balcony:

More roof work:

Mr. Wright also designed the Post Office located across the street from the Civic Center:

As some of you know from previous posts I am a fan of structures designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright and try to visit houses and buildings he designed during my travels.  Well, this may come as a surprise even to FLW fans but he once designed a doghouse!  I heard about this on NPR a few months ago and learned that it was designed for a family who lived in this area.

Mr. Wright designed a home for the Robert Berger family of nearby San Anselmo.  When the house was completed Mr. Berger relayed his 12-year-old son’s request that Wright design a doghouse which would fit in with the house design but would be inexpensive enough so his son could pay for it with money earned on his paper route.  Mr. Wright wrote back that he was too busy and that they should ask again a year later.  Well they did and this time Mr. Wright complied.

The design was completed in 1957 but construction wasn’t completed until 1963 (after selling many newspapers!).

Here is a photo of the original doghouse:

(Photo credit: wikipedia.org)

The doghouse was thrown out after it was no longer needed but was later reconstructed following the original plans (note that it is sitting up on a dolly so appears taller than it actually is):

(Photo credit: sf.curbed.com – courtesy of Marin County Civic Center)

(Photo credit: J. Michael Welton)

Wednesday was the 4th of July and I spent the day at the Airbnb where I am staying in San Rafael for the week.  By the way, the locals pronounce the name of their town San ra-FELL, not San raf-A-el as I have been saying.  My Airbnb hostess had a holiday cookout which included her boyfriend, parents, and about 10 of her neighbors and friends.  I made “Fire & Ice” salsa (watermelon + jalapenos as the main ingredients) which seemed to be popular and it was nice to spend a relaxing afternoon visiting with her friends and getting ideas on additional things to do both here and next week when I continue heading north along the coast.

Thursday morning I headed out to several destinations in the area.  Here are some of the things I saw:

I learned what “hatched” means as it pertains to streets and parking lots:

I also learned that the Marin County Jail is located mostly underground (what a neat idea!):

By the way, the county name is pronounced ma-RIN, not MARE-in.

I made a short visit to Mission San Rafael Arcangel, in what is now downtown San Rafael.  It is close to what is now a city street and it is very tall so it was tough to get a good photo of it.  The first one was taken (quickly) while standing in the center of a busy intersection, carefully timed to avoid moving vehicles!

Here is a two-shot panorama – top to bottom:

And these are some of the ferries which shuttle people to and from downtown San Francisco from Sausalito.  The “Mendocino” was just arriving:

I will probably be riding one of these on Monday when I head over to San Francisco to visit the Museum of Modern Art.  I was also hoping to visit Alcatraz while I was in the area but unfortunately tours there are booked through the end of July.  I had no idea it would be such a popular destination.

 

Tuesday I left Sparks, Nevada to head west towards San Francisco.  Shortly after I crossed back in to California I stopped at this rest area along the dreaded interstate.  I knew this was going to be along my route this year and wanted to get more information.

Let’s talk about the Donner Party.  Actually, first let’s talk about me.

For those of you who don’t know, my last name is Dahnert.  Our family prefers to pronounce our name DAY-nert.  The most common mispronunciation is the result of people transposing the h and the n, making it DAN-hurt.  Another variation is DAHH-nert, which is also technically correct.  DAHH-nert  <–>  Donner,  Donner <–>  DAHH-nert.  Hmmmmm….

The area I was in Tuesday morning, near Truckee, California, was near the site of the demise of much of the Donner Party in the winter of 1846-47.  The group (actually consisting largely of the Donner and Reed families) started their ill-fated trek west from Independence, Missouri in Mid-May of 1846.  They were partially doomed by starting about a month later than they probably should have, given the distance they were traveling, and the fact that they decided to take the untested “Hastings Cutoff” shortcut, which Mr. Hastings hadn’t even tried.  One of the journals later found contained this quote from one of the members of the group: “I am beginning to feel alarmed at the tardiness of our movements”.

They became stranded in a huge, early snowstorm near Truckee Lake (now Donner Lake).  Some in the group felt they had to resort to cannibalism in order to survive.  Of the 87 people who started the journey, only 48 survived (although most who were lost were to illness, exposure and other factors, not from being eaten).  Another quote found in one of the journals: “Mrs. Murphy said here yesterday that [she] thought she would commence on Milt and eat him.  I don’t [think] she had done so, yet it is distressing”.

There are actually many things in this area named after the Donner family – the rest area I was at, the lake, the Pass, a ski area, a state park, etc.

I suppose if this had happened across the state line in Nevada there would even be a Donner Casino (I’d be very careful what you select from the “All-You-Can-Eat Buffet”…  Personally, I think I’d stick to the salad bar).

I didn’t venture off to see any of the other Donner sites, as I was traveling my myself and wouldn’t have anyone, pardon me, I mean anything to eat if I became lost.

I am making jokes but this was actually a serious, sad chapter in American history.

Tuesday while on my way to San Rafael, CA from Sparks, NV I stopped in Sacramento to visit this museum.  This very large facility, which exhibits mostly full-size train engines and cars, is located right next to “Old Sacramento”.

Outside there was a small roundtable, which an engine can be “driven” onto and then mechanically turned around to reverse direction.  There was a full-size roundhouse (a roundtable surrounded by a building with little “garages” for trains to be kept in for maintenance) at a museum in Jamestown CA, just south of Sonora, which I tried to go to while I was there a short while back but they had stopped giving tours for the day (2 1/2 hours early!) and I wouldn’t have been able to see it so I didn’t pay to go in.  I did see one in Durango CO last year when I rode the Durango & Silverton Scenic Railroad.

Oops.  Looks like someone zigged when they should have zagged…

 

There was a display of small models of very fast trains currently being used in various foreign countries (China, Japan, Korea, Italy and France):

Upstairs there was an area displaying toy trains, train memorabilia and model trains set up as a large village.

And a place for kids to play…

… while the “big kids” watched their young’uns burn off some energy:

Tuesday as I drove west towards San Rafael I stopped in Sacramento to visit a railroad museum (which I will post photos of later).  Right next to that museum is an area called “Old Sacramento,” which has original buildings that have been restored to contain restaurants and shops.

Tuesday, as I traveled from Sparks NV to San Rafael CA I made a side trip through the Napa Valley (wine country for those of you who don’t know).  The town of Napa is the heart of Napa Valley and I spent about two hours just walking around town, enjoying the scenery.  I even hit my Fitbit 10,000 step daily goal around 2 o’clock in the afternoon as I was trying to figure out where I had parked my car!  I had walked around town so much I got somewhat disoriented (and hadn’t even been drinking – honest!)

Here is some of what I saw during those two hours:

These are newlyweds from Connecticut who are visiting the area.

These are the very helpful young ladies who work at the Napa Visitor Information Center.

And to go with that giant glass of corks, a giant (must be a Magnum-Magnum) bottle of Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon.  It almost came up to my belly button.  I’ll take it – and a really long straw, please.

This is an old mill, renovated to become restaurants and shops.

Want to learn the Cha-Cha-Cha??  Doesn’t look quite as simple as the Hokey-Pokey.

I finally found my car shortly after taking the photo above.  I then drove up the “Silverado Trail,” a 30-mile scenic road which leads up to Calistoga.  I passed almost 200 vineyards and wineries along the way – there are over 250 listed on the map of the area, although some are on the main road (Route 29) and some are out in the country.  And that’s just in the Napa Valley.  There’s no telling how many vineyards there are in the state of California.

Tuesday afternoon I stopped in this small town at the north end of the Napa Valley.  I had a late lunch and walked around town looking at the interesting architecture.

In many of these photos you can see that people were already “claiming” their spots for viewing the 4th of July parade which will occur here on Wednesday by placing chairs along the edge of the sidewalk.  Many of the small towns in this area were shutting down their main street for a few hours on Wednesday to host such parades.

Hmmm… this building doesn’t seem to have any windows.  I wonder whose responsibility THAT was???  In reality, it probably houses telephone or electrical switching equipment and was designed this way to simply protect that equipment and has no need for windows.  This was a nice way to at least make it look a little more attractive.

Tuesday I drove from Sparks, Nevada to San Rafael, California, just north of San Francisco.  Here are some things I saw along the way:

I noticed more haze and smoke than I had seen just south of Reno the day before when I got on the dreaded interstate in Sparks Tuesday morning.  I very shortly crossed back in to California and started to gain altitude as the highway took me west.  The further I drove the worse long distance visibility got.  I even skipped two overlooks (Vista Points) because there really wasn’t much to see.

I stopped in Truckee, CA to go to the visitor center but it didn’t open until later in the morning.  I did see this building nearby, an old “Flying A” gas station which is now home to a high-end German owned real estate company which specializes in very expensive properties, boats and yachts at locations all over the world.  They have an office here because of the proximity to Lake Tahoe.

You don’t know how badly I wished I could have really bought gas here!

I got back on the highway and drove further west, towards Sacramento.  I made a two-hour stop there, which I will address in other posts, and then proceeded west to my ultimate destination in San Rafael.  Traffic was not bad at all and I made great time, so I got out near the coast by early afternoon.  I exited the dreaded interstate on Route 12 and headed northwest towards the Napa Valley.  I will also show pictures from the towns of Napa and Calistoga in other posts.

When I left Napa I drove northwest on the “Silverado Trail,” one of my primary scenic roads which runs parallel to, but slightly further east than, Route 29 which is the congested main thoroughfare between Napa and Calistoga, a distance of about 30 miles.  During my pleasant and relaxing drive I saw signs for different wineries on both sides of the road every 2 or 3 hundred feet.  Most of them were small wineries whose names I didn’t recognize but there are some of the big players here, too.

Here are some photos from one of the wineries showing the vineyards.

I reached out and touched the leaf next to the grapes to give you an idea how tiny the grapes are.  These looking like relatively young plants and there are older, more mature groves which have larger grapes.  The signs don’t tell you exactly what kind of grapes they are growing but most vineyards grow a variety.

There.  Now you’ve seen one.  They are all pretty much the same, and I now see vineyards and wineries all over the country.  Some merely grow grapes which are processed elsewhere.  The bigger operations actually process and age the wine onsite.  Many offer tours but more and more are by appointment only.  Some have large, very impressive buildings where they offer wine tastings and have retail shops.  Some now charge admission for their tastings.  I didn’t stop at any of them.  I tagged along with my brother David and his wife Kendra about 20 years ago and we visited Robert Mondavi and a small, private winery in this area.  I don’t drink while driving during the day so I just passed all these places by.  In my 30-mile drive between Napa and Calistoga on Tuesday I bet I drove past 250 different operations, and this was just in a small area.  Wine is big business in California.

After having a late lunch and walking around Calistoga a bit I drove out towards “The 101” to get down to San Rafael.  Before getting on the highway in Geyserville I saw a few pieces of artwork next to the highway.

What really caught my eye was this huge 10 foot by 10 foot square made up of little metal squares which had colors and patterns on them (birds, butterflies, feathers, etc) which are mounted loosely by wire so they can move slightly in the wind.  The metal is also very shiny and reflects the sun.  As I drove towards this piece (called, simply, “Shimmer”) the sun was starting to set in the western sky and the road took me in a perfect alignment to see the piece sparkle in the sun.

This was the pattern on the other side, which would “shimmer” for drivers going north on “The 101” in the morning with the sun behind them.  It is a different pattern but I couldn’t get a wide shot because I would be looking towards the sun and couldn’t get far enough away to see the whole thing without the camera being blinded by it.