It turns out that Schulz
was born in our home town of St. Paul, Minnesota. He even graduated from
Central High School, the same high school my brother Mike graduated from. His
first job as a cartoonist was for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Sadly the Press
would not publish his work on the comic page as he asked, rather they relegated
his work to the Women’s’ section of the paper. They also refused request to
expand his strip from the current 3 panels to 4. So he quit, which probably
solidified his future.
His greatest work flowed
after his move to Santa Rosa. We learned that at the peak of his career he was
the fifth highest income earner of any kind of entertainer – actors, bands,
professional athletes, etc. Evidence of his philanthropy is all over the town.
Next to the museum is the indoor ice arena he built for the city. He never lost
his love for hockey, and you could see its influence in his work with Snoopy
and Woodstock playing the game on top of a frozen solid birdbath.
We strolled into the
arena and discovered the Warm Puppy Café. The table where Schulz had breakfast
every morning still welcomes guests.
We enjoyed the museum
far more than we thought. On top of great videos that really connect you with
the man himself were actual scribbles of some of his earliest Peanuts strips.
It was interesting to see how the style changed over time – in his early
strips, Snoopy walked on all fours like any other dog. In the courtyard we saw
Charlie Brown’s famous kite eating tree. But my favorite was the infamous
frozen bird bath, with a very unique hologram of Snoopy and Woodstock playing
hockey. The 3 dimensional effects were pretty awesome!
While checking things
out in Sonoma we visited the last on our journey of the 21 missions built by
the Spanish. Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma was founded July 4, 1823 by
Father Jose Altimira. It was named for Saint Francis Solanus, the patron saint
of most of South America.
The current mission building dates back to 1840 when the original chapel was expanded. The ranger told us that this is the oldest original building along the El Camino Real as it was apparently spared some of the major earthquake damage others sustained along the way. He also told us that while the Camino Real was used by locals and the Spanish over time, it wasn’t an established and maintained road as we had come to believe. It was really more just a heavily used trail.
On our way to our next
gem, Point Reyes National Seashore, we drove by Skywalker Ranch. George
Lucas lives in the hills between Santa Rosa and Point Reyes. While it is not
open to the public, I wanted to see how he lived and whether there was any
evidence of his legend. While we had a good look at his ample home, there were
no Darths or Yodas anywhere to be seen.
We visited
another great lighthouse at Point Reyes. Again our luck with schedules and
weather are excellent. We got to the Seashore shortly after the every 20 minute
shuttles commenced. As we moved from point to point within the Park we had a
bus show up with plenty of room. Drivers told us that by around Noon there
would likely be lines for the shuttles – apparently Californians don’t do
mornings.
We headed down to the
1870 era lighthouse. They warn you that you will be walking down 308 stairs to
get to the light. What they don’t tell you is that there are a couple of
extremely long sections of ramps that at least equal the elevation change
covered by the steps. So they say “You will do 308 steps if you choose to go.”
But what they choose not to say is “You will do an equivalent of 616 steps if
you choose to go.” I think for some that would make a difference.
We were a bit surprised
there were naturalist docents at the lighthouse. It turns out we were here at
the height of the whale migration season. At first we didn’t think we could see
any whales passing by. With encouragement from the docents that whales passing
were plentiful, we started spotting the spouts identifying whales surfacing for
air. After seeing our first, we saw dozens of them, many of which were so close
to the surface that we could see the shadows as well as a couple of flukes.
They had an overlook to
a beach near the historic lifesaving station where California sea lions loved
to hang out. The sounds of their bellowing and barking were so loud that we
could hear them all along our half mile walk out to chimney rock point. At the
visitor center there were actually a couple sea lions within feet of us. These
creatures are massive, easily twice my weight or more. I am not sure but I
think this one may have been hit by the ugly stick!
What is now the bulk of
the land mass of Point Reyes National Seashore was once owned by the San
Francisco law firm Shaffer, Shaffer, Park and Heydenfeldt. In the mid-1800’s
they split up the 50,000 acres they had accumulated into 26 parcels and leased
grazing space to immigrant families for dairy herds. The area was so productive
that it not only filled all the dairy needs of San Francisco but the entire bay
area reaching quite a bit north. To simplify keeping track each farm was given
a letter name. After the law firm dissolved the families bought their “alphabet
farms”. When the National Seashore was established the families all sold their
farms to the National Park Service, and now lease them back on a hundred year
lease for a hundred dollars.
Napa, Sonoma and lesser
hailed wine growing areas line the coast here. We stopped at a local craft
creamery and picked up some Point Reyes Blue Cheese. All the cheese made in
this creamery is from milk off one or more of the alphabet ranches. With that
and our other picnic fixings in hand we headed to one of the smaller vineyards.
With the day again turning glorious it was picnic time next to the grape vines
with Point Reyes Blue and a fresh bottle of cabernet. What a day!
Talk to
you soon!
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