Mission Sonoma

 Time for a domestic travel blog! And sheer boredom for anyone reading this from the bay area!

Took a trip to one of California's old missions while I was home, only an hour or so out of the bay area in Napa Valley. The mission was created by the Mexican army in the 1820s to defend against Russia, who was coming down the coast of California (up to Fort Ross). It was the northernmost mission in a line of missions extending all the way down the California coast making up the El Camino Real (at the time Alta and Baja California were either Mexican or Spanish owned depending upon the year you look at). They say that the missions were spaced at a distance from one another such that one could travel between two of them in a day. It comes across as a pretty simple adobe like building with ranch-style architecture. Small places like this remind me that there are really a ton of things in California to discover, from mountains, parks and deserts to tiny towns of interesting historical significance.

The back area of the soldiers barracks next to the mission

The small chapel