California Missions Tour: Mission San Francisco Solano (Sonoma)

Because so many of the missions were clustered around the San Francisco Bay Area, I decided that I should try to see all of them on the first day of my journey. Unexpectedly, my friend A called and told me he was taking a long trip to Persia. Not knowing when I'd see him again, I postponed the start of my journey by a few hours so we could go to our breakfast hangout from our college days.

After finishing our too-greasy breakfasts and saying good-bye, I hightailed out of there and aimed for Sonoma. I had just visited the Sonoma mission a few months prior, but somehow I got lost. (Also, keep in mind that this was 2002, a few years before the ubiquity of GPS systems in cars.)

San Francisco Solano
Founded July 4, 1823 (21st mission)

The drizzly weather did not slow me down. I found a parking space across the street and jogged to the entrance. A retired couple worked at the mission. I paid the one dollar entrance fee. The lady greeted me and told me how two men had just visited all 21 missions in three days. They worked their way from south to north. Sonoma was therefore their last. By the time they arrived at the Sonoma mission, they were so sick and tired of the whole experience, they refused to go inside and inspect the interior of the mission. Ominous.

CKY