From the Sonoma Vintage Festival to Chateau Montelena

September 27, 2009: We drove to Sonoma for the annual Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival and the festival parade. Unlike most California towns, the city hall sits in the middle of the plaza:




































The Nave Patrola:

A long fellow and the Gay-Straight Alliance:













A hot dog and a unicorn:









Bacchus:
The Wells-Fargo Wagon and a delivery wagon:









Latino horsemen and band:

At the festival, an owl and the Boy Scout salami toss (hit a hanging salami with a potato and win the salami!):











The plaza rose garden:



















The Sonoma plaza was the site where the Bear Flag Republic was declared. Nine days later, U.S. Army Major John C. Fremont took command in the name of the United States.












After the parade, we visited the Mission San Francisco Solano (1823) which is the northernmost and last of the 21 missions established in Alta California and the only one established after Mexico separated from Spain. The mission is immediately northeast of the plaza.




























From Sonoma, we crossed into Napa County and drove up the valley for a tasting at the Bottle Shock winery, Chateau Montelena.

A bottle of the 1973 Chardonnay that took first place in the 1976 Paris tasting and shook the world of wine:

The Chinese garden at Chateau Montelena: