Traveling North through the Napa Valley, one moves through a matrix of meticulously tended vineyards studded with lavish wineries fashioned after tuscan villas, haciendas, chateaux, and various European architectural periods.
The climate is within the embrace of the moderating effects of San Francisco Bay, allowing introduced citrus, palms and eucalyptus to flourish.
Flanking the beautiful valley are two mountain ranges, the wetter Mayacamas on the West and the dry Vaca on the East.
At the North end of the valley around Mount St. Helena the two ranges converge in a complex of rough volcanic uplands and lake basins.
Here The Mediterranean climate of the San Francisco Bay Area gives way to something a little more intense, with a wider swing between the heat of summer and the cold of winter.
North of Calistoga, ascending Mount St. Helena as one heads toward Lake County, the palms, citrus and eucalyptus soon peter out.
The economic status difference between the two counties is seen distinctly once one has crossed from South to North over Mount St. Helena, quickly leaving behind all signs of architectural elaboration, and arriving in a land of small stick built houses and trailers.
Lake County, historically comprising the northern part of Napa County, but now a separate political entity, is a world apart, the "locked in county" due to its surrounding mountain ranges. It is the poor country cousin, a backwater struggling on, while trying to reclaim some of its past allure as a vacation and spa destination. It is a land in which the advent of European settlement still feels like a recent and provisional experiment. The presence of the various local tribal groups is a regular part of social experience.
The county also feels like a last bastion of some brand of authenticity. The feeling stems from the fact that, by modern California standards, it is a place not yet completely overrun with humans. This is its charm and its strength. If only it could keep the hoards at bay.
Dropped fig leaves under a ninety-year-old tree planted by descendants of early white settlers.
Some of the bartlett pear trees were planted over a century ago.
Corrugated metal shed architecture typifies rural California.
Japanese maple
Japanese maple
Turkeys, newcomers to California.
Quercus Lobata, Valley Oak.
watercolor palette.
wind powered pump
