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
California Automobile Museum – Micro Cars
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
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.
Roseville Telephone Museum
The Roseville Telephone Museum located in old town Roseville is a great little stop which requires some planning. The free museum is only open one day per month! That’s right one day per month on the first Saturday. I finally timed it right and took my young son along with a healthy anxiety assuming I would have to keep him from touching everything! To my surprise the docents there, it seems all of whom have children and grand children, were enthusiastic in encouraging my son’s tactile exploration. They even guided him over to some actual working telephones so he could “call Mommy” on the old timey phone and sit in the phone booth.
The museum has a wonderful collection of equipment which was actually used by Roseville Telephone company in early days and a large amount of equipment which was donated to them by other telecommunications lovers who wanted their items protected and shared.
The docents were fantastic in their brief but thorough explanations keeping both me and my little guy occupied and interested. I think the greatest evidence of this is that my son now points to every old telephone he sees and says “Phone! Talk.” This is pretty great considering most kids born after 1995 don’t know what a phone looks like other than a cell phone.
It must have been an interesting job managing all of the phone calls in one area.
Cutest little operator I have ever seen.
Shiny colored insulator sure are pretty.
Can you keep up with all of the work going on at this switchboard?
Ever wonder what was under a man hole cover?
This tiny little museum is open one day per week only!
I wonder who he was talking to?
“Hello Operator I would like to place a call to Grandma collect please!”
Do these bring back some memories?
Lots of things for a person to gaze at
I’ve always wondered what these things were that I saw laying all over my Grandparent’s house as a youngster.
Can’t say I care to dail a rotary phone anymore now that I can speak to my iPhone but they do bring back a lot of memories.
The folks at the museum were overly kind letting my little guy press all of the buttons.
I couldn’t help but edit some of these photos in to black and white…enjoy.
Some of these old machines were just creaming to be seen in black and white.
Morris code anyone?
Hands free!
California Museum, Sacramento
Sacramento hosts the California Museum which boasts the California Hall of Fame and other interesting exhibits highlighting some of that which makes California extraordinary.
The museum has something for everyone with information about famous Californians, famous female Californians, exhibits about the Japanese internment camps, California missions, public health, unity and diversity in the state, and a special exhibit of Sus Ito’s sympathetic and personal World War II photos taken for his mother to assure her of his safety.
Highlights for me were reading about some of our famous actors, reading about personal stories from the Japanese internment camps, the gorgeous mural above the California mission exhibit, and Ito’s interesting war photos depicting the boredom and reality of war life.
Hollywood is most definitly a part of our history here in California
The California Missions are an interesting part of our history one which is ingrained in to us as children but whose impact certainly has many sides
I’ve seen most of the missions in my life and travels and look forward to photographing all of them for you some day
One of our more interesting characters from California
Beautiful Sesquicentennial Quilt
California and the world for that matter wouldnt be the same without Mickey
Japanese world war history is certainly a dark part of our past which deserves a place in this museum to continue to educate those who will come behind us
If only I were able to get this entire muralin one shot. It is beautiful and colorful and full of California iconography
These bells lace the freeways throughout California indicating our Spanish Mission period history. You can see them all throughout the Central and Southern parts of the State
I really enjoyed this exhibit. The every day life photos from the war are compelling and innocent and very real to me.
I love this photo
I love that we can see the equipment used
No better way to connect than through food
Governor’s Mansion, Sacramento
We have a new Sacramento resident in our state Governor’s Mansion. This beautiful building had been vacant prior to Governor Jerry Brown moving in around 2015 for as long as I can remember operating as a California State park and open to the public. It’s been vacant since the Reagan era per good ol’ Wikipedia. Our new Governor, Gavin Newsom, has chosen to move in with his family as is his prerogative as head of state. Although it is unclear to me if they have moved out already and in to a newly purchased home in the Fair Oaks suburbs. Regardless and to be fair, I believe they have been renovating it since Arnold was in office, so it’s is probably much more habitable than in earlier terms. It’s a fantastically beautiful house one which will surely be a delight to entertain in both privately and publicly. I won’t be able to share interior photos until it’s open to the public again…sorry about that. And just to make it clear in case you were wondering, if I were Governor I would move in to this house immediately. I mean look at it!
On another note the beautiful pink tulip tree tells me spring is around the corner!
Open Studio with Dacy
We attended the open studio of artist Dacy Kolsky in downtown Sacramento recently and really enjoyed her art and the vibe of being in her studio. Check out her mixed media collage work! Her art has an neon Andy Warhol meets 80’s throwback vibe from the time before digital when everything was actually done by hand.
What’s your favorite piece? Support your local artists!
Email dacy@modernpoppy.com
SeaQuest – Folsom, California
Seaquest opened a branch in Folsom, California and I was fortunate enough to be gifted an annual family pass. I stopped in to see what all the fuss was about and saw a line of hundreds out the door! Soooo, I stopped by again another day after the kids were back in school and found it to be an interesting an enjoyable visit. It boasts turtles which can be touches and petted, a bird sanctuary with parakeets and lorikeets, piglets, lizards, frogs, lots of fish, rays, snakes, and ducks. I must say I can’t believe it is the safest or healthiest of habitats for the animals which leaves me a little unsettled. But, I can say it is a spectacular way to teach and inspire children about animals, sea life, and the ocean by allowing them to see, touch, smell, talk to, and interact with the animals. Nevertheless, I am not sure how much it teaches about management and care of wildlife…
These guys always look like they are smiling from this angle
Folks can snorkel with and touch the animals
Pool with a view!
Petting zoo for little ones…surprised they don’t make everyone mandatorily wash their hands before and after…
Folsom Prison Museum – Folsom, California
Folsom Prison Museum is a tiny and random museum attached to the current Folsom Prison in California. Parking and walking in isn’t for the faint of heart since you drive down Prison road and park in the same place as all of the visitors meeting with their prisoner loved ones. You even have to walk through the Prison Gate in order to get to the front door of the museum. From there things go up! You are greeted with a warm welcome to an obscure and interesting micro museum.
The museum boasts a number of interesting newspaper articles, photos, prison art, Johhny Cash memorabilia, prison contraband, and other historical artifacts of note even if some are somewhat macaub. It is an interesting stop one which won’t take you much time and might be coupled nicely with a walk or ride on the nearby lovely Johnny Cash Trail.
Toothpick anyone?
Looks cold, damp, and drafty to me
Johnny is all over this museum
Contraband weapons
The museum has lots of great photos to look through like these before and after dress out and shave photos
Yikes, its a noose
Old guard tower that could tell some crazy stories
The real prison gate which Johnny was photographed in front of
Submitted also to Kammie’s Odd Ball Challenge over at Nut House Central!
Stormy Windmill Photo near Palm Springs
Note: These things are insanely massive! They look dainty in this photo but they are enormous and hulking!
*Scanned form my old medium format film days and submitted for Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – In the Distance
Bulldog Travels / Photos By Jenny 