Month: April 2019

CA’ TOGA ART GALLERY, Calistoga

/ Bulldog Travels / 5 Comments

My photography friend and I headed to Napa with the plan to photograph spring flowers. A quick and random yelp search layer led us to the random Villa Ca’ Toga. After seeing some of the images online and having never heard of this place flowers were out the window and we set coordinates towards beautiful Calistoga. Turns out sadly that the tours of the Villa start next week so we settled on the gallery. (Harrumph.)

A visit to the gallery did not disappoint and has well inspired us to take a trip soon to see the Villa which is home to and created by Carlo Marchiori. Carlo is a multi talented and prolific artist whose muse is his own Villa on the outskirts of Calistoga.  Every inch of the Villa is covered in interesting and eccentric art as well as the grounds which appear to be covered in random sculpture.

Who wants to visit the Villa with me?!

 

 

 

Springtime in Napa

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It’s springtime in Napa which means mustard flower and cleanup piles. I have always found Napa to be a spectacularly beautiful place. But, I’ve always found the views away from the large commercial wineries to be my favorites. The side roads and country in between the touristy places can take your breath away. Napa is truly the most beautiful big time small town in Nor Cal and I never ever get tired of it in any season.

California Automobile Museum – Micro Cars

/ Bulldog Travels / 13 Comments

The California Auto Museum, in downtown Sacramento, is boasting its Micro Car exhibit for the first time in seven years with what looks like double the micro cars on display!  They were even hosting a clever Micro Cars and Micro Brews event the evening we visited.  The museum underwent a refresh a few years back and I am happy to see it is alive and well.

The museum typically has a roaming exhibit (Micro Cars in this case), a race car exhibit, muscle car area, historical vehicles, and an area with cars on consignment (to help fund the museum itself and to hopefully fund some heat/air conditioning.)

It is also fun to see the addition of an area for children with several auto related activities which was a bonus for my little boy. Zoom. Zoom.

Some great street art on the front garage doors of the museum
Name the car!
Who is this cute little guy standing in front of the street art?
This yellow taxi is probably my favorite micro car
I’ve always been drawn to the numbers on the side of race cars be them big or micro
Interesting badge and interesting plate
I love everything about this little car including it’s history of apparantly saving the BMW car company!
Who wouldnt want to go rally in this little guy?
Go # 68!
What could be dangerous about this vehicle?
Fast fast fast
Cute little display
Not a fan of this car or the hood art but I would venture to guess some folks might disagree with me
How is this possibly in a museum? I am getting old enough that random stuff like this is history!
Transformer?
Oh yah. This is a beautiful machine.
Another cute little display with a car to match.
The museum did a fine job of incorporating displays, vehicles, and a childrens area to encourage parents and children to come and visit! Kudos. Start them young!

#SPRING

/ Bulldog Travels / 18 Comments

Spring is finally happening here in Northern California.  It’s been lovely to get out and run around a little bit after what seems like months of rain.  All good for the state of our drought in California…Enjoy a photographic representation of Fresh Air.