Remote Graves of California

There's one thing I like to do and, now that I live in a historical and rural area, have more time to indulge in. That is to explore old cemeteries.

It's fascinating to find the oldest graves and then try to find the stories to the person who is buried there.

Another thing is to come upon a grave that is all by itself in some remote area. Could be some pioneer who died on their way to California and was buried alongside the trail. Murder victims hastily buried in the forest or some pauper who died in his hovel and was buried in the yard. 

Here are a few remote graves in California. Some we've visited, others we still need to visit, and I'm sure there is a lot more we still need to find.

Above the city of Monrovia, there is a nice trail up to the waterfalls in the canyon at Monrovia Canyon Park. The trail up to the waterfall is not accessible but you may be able to go along the first part of the trail where you'll see the cryptic sign "3 Graves" pointing to a short side trail. The Rankins family used to have a home up here and their three children...Polly, Estella, and Albert...died in a typhoid outbreak in 1874.

They were buried here. The tombstone is still there, laid flat and embedded in concrete to deters thieves and vandals, but their remains were eventually moved to Mountain View Cemetery a few miles away in Altadena.

In the mountains just north of Big Bear Lake, Southern California experienced its own gold rush when the metal was discovered in Holcomb Valley in 1859. One of the miners who came to prospect was Charles Wilbur, who was the first tax accessor of San Bernardino County.

Wilbur was a well liked guy and, when he died, asked to be buried by his favorite pond (now called Wilbur's Pond) alongside the road. As the years went by, people have expanded that road so that now is grave is in the middle of the road. People leave pine cones and other mementos on his grave to this day.

It takes several miles of travel on dirt roads to get to Wilbur's grave so we have not made that trip yet.

Peter Lebeck, Lebec. Buried on the grounds of Fort Tejon State Historic Park is the man who the nearby town is probably named after. Peter Lebeck was an early settler in Kern County who, it is said, was killed by a grizzly bear.

This would make him unique in that, since the grizzly bear is now extinct in California, to be the last person this could happen to.

Maiden's Grave, Kirkwood. No one really knows who is buried in this grave along highway 88 except to say it is not the maiden, Rachel Melton, a young girl who is said to have died along the trail to California.

The history and documentation is all over the place on this grave, in fact, it is doubtful that any cadaver is resting under the cairn of rocks easily accessible on the side of highway 88, just west of Kirkwood.

Research has determined that there is a body, however, but it is located under the ashpalt of the highway a few feet away.

Tragedy Spring, Amador. In 1848, Mormon settlers in the area east of what is now Placerville, were looking for a shorter, easier route back to Salt Lake City. A party of three men were sent up the Mormon Emmigrant Trail, towards what is now known as the Carson Pass. 

A few weeks passed with no word from the scouting party and a search party was sent out. They came upon a grizzly scene where they found the bodies of the three men, mutilated, burned, and shallowly buried next to a spring.

It was blamed on local natives but no one really knows who killed the men. 19 year old Henderson Cox, 34 year old Ezra Allen, and 39 year old Daniel Browett were properly buried and their cement covered grave is still there next to the spring which is now covered by a shed. A pipe still gushes water outside of the shed so visitors can fill their containers with mountain spring water.

Several steps are required to reach the grave, which is just west of Kirkwood off of highway 88, so it is not wheelchair accessible.

Thomas Tormey, Jackson. - Tormey does not have to spend eternity alone here. Approximately 30 other souls call this small cemetery home but Tormey's tombstone is the only one left standing.

On a tiny sliver of land, between someone's front yard and Jackson Gate Road sits the miniscule Jackson Gate Perano Cemetery. Blink and you miss it, literally.

Mr. Tormey has the distinction of having the oldest cemetery tombstone still standing in Amador County, dating back to 1850.

James Marshall, Coloma. One of the most famous of California's historical names, James Marshall was the foreman who worked for John Sutter at Sutter's sawmill on the banks of the American River here in Coloma.

You can't miss it if you visit here, it is arguably the most famous historic site in the state where, on a cold winter day in 1848, Marshall and his crew were dynamiting the tail race of the mill to unclog it so water could flow freely through it. 

Inspecting the results, he bent over and found a few golden nuggets loosed up by the blast and started the great Gold Rush that ensured statehood for California.

Marshall ended up penniless, living in a wooden shack on a hill nearby. He was buried in the local cemetery but dug up and reinterred under a monument at the top of the hill. Technically, you can roll up the steep road to the top of the hill but it'd probably be better that you drive up and park in the lot adjacent to it.

Donner Party, Truckee. The story of the Donner Party has been well documented. We also found their second camp a couple of months ago. The main memorial, alongside Interstate 80 west of Truckee, is believed to contain remains of some of the victims under its base.

It is easily accessed in a wheelchair.

Peter Lassen, Susanville. Born in Denmark, Lassen emmigrated from Boston to California and eventually settled into the Honey Lake area in northern California. He was murdered in Nevada and buried in Susanville on Wingfield Road, a bit southwest of the town proper.

Many locations are named for him including the volcano, Mt. Lassen.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2021 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: The Milwauke Pub Crawl

Luckily, we got a ride to and from today’s adventure. Good thing…there was no way we were going to end this one sober…

Milwaukee is the city that beer made famous, so how does it stack up to the self-described “Napa Valley of beer” that we visited last year (Denver)? Very well, thank you.

Watch the Video!

We start off with a standalone visit to Benelux in the Historic Third Ward. Yes, you need to capitalize each word.

With a thick bible of beers to choose from, Tim and I have a palette of strong Belgian beers while Letty goes with a bottled sour.  It’s hard to pick from our palette but Letty says the sour, Ichtegem Flemish Red, could have more bite.

Next, it’s on to the actual crawl. We start at the north end of town where the really cool Milwaukee Riverwalk starts. First up is the American absinthe made right here in Milwaukee by Great Lakes Distillery and served at Trocadero. It’s the first time we’ve had it and it tastes like anisette and looks like cloudy water. Not bad but not really my cup of tea either.  I enjoyed the shot of Cazadores Reposado I had better.

Across the adjacent Hudson Street bridge, which has a really cool, wheelchair accessible, pedestrian bridge hanging under the main bridge, we go to Lakefront Brewery to take the tour.  This tour is so fun that it is rated as the number 4 best thing to do in Milwaukee on Tripadvisor. It should be number 1.

Our tour guide is hungover and drunk, but he’s funny, knowledgeable, and keeps our glasses full of our choice of Lakefront brews. I’m partial to their flagship variety, the Stein.

Seven dollars gets you on the tour and four tokens for beer. Answering trivia questions or helping the tour guide gets you more tokens, plus the generous policy of free frequent top-offs means there is much more beer available that most people can handle. I ended up giving my last four tokens away.

Walking along the river, we eventually end up in another historic neighborhood, Third Street…also known as Historic Old World Third Street.  Yes, with the capitals.

Mader’s has been here over a century, serving good but expensive German Cuisine. They also have a happy hour so we go inside to enjoy a $5 ceramic stein of Spaten Oktoberfest and a glass of Pinot Noir.

Afterward, it’s a couple of doors down to get some more Lakefront beer (two mugs for $3) and some Franziskaner Weissbier at Milwaukee Brat House along with some of their namesake fatty sausages and deep fried cheese curds.

With that, we cannot crawl another foot and call for the hotel shuttle to take us back. It’s all in the video above, so come along and watch as we take in as much Milwaukee as we can handle.

Cheers!

-Darryl

Copyright 2012 – Darryl Musick

All Rights Reserved

Game Day in Beer City - Milwaukee, Part 2

We've been eating a drinking in Milwaukee for a little while now. Let’s turn to something else the city does very well…sports!

Baseball is our sport. One of our travel goals is to see each Major League stadium. There are 30 of them altogether.  Our main reason…but not the only one…to visit Milwaukee is to notch our 22^nd stadium, Miller Park.

Watch the Video!

Before that, we spend a little time seeing the city along the fantastic Riverwalk that winds through downtown. We do a bit of pub crawling…which you can see in more detail in this week’s Cocktail Hour, TheMilwaukee Pub Crawl.  Go ahead, click on that link and check it out.  We’ll be here when you get back…

One of our rules for stadium trips is that Tim makes all the arrangements for tickets. At Miller Park, there is no good public transit, so Tim also buys a parking pass which you can buy in advance for $9 if you’re handicapped…normally $15 on weekend games at the gate.

Turns out we could have gone on our hotel’s shuttle for free but that’s one to grow on.  Maybe next time.

Being an idiot, I had left our handicapped parking placard back on our car’s rearview mirror which was now sitting in the parking lot of the airport in Ontario, California.  Luckily, at the gate, I was able to show the parking attendant the wheelchair in the back and explain what a moron I was and he let us in.

We were directed to park in the tailgating area.  Here in Milwaukee, that means something.  Approximately 6 – 7,000 people surrounded us, barbecuing, drinking, playing games, and generally having a good time.  It’s said to be the largest tailgate party anywhere in baseball.  I believe it.

We spend a little time exploring the stadium and visiting the gift shop where Tim and I buy t-shirts to wear for the game.  You might notice that my shirt does not say “Brewers” on it. Instead, it says “Cerveceros.” More on that in a bit.

Come game time, we find our seats up above third base in the upper deck. We’re up pretty high but the views are still fantastic. A friend of mine from high school meets us at the game and we spend the next three hours catching up on the thirty plus years since we’ve seen each other.  It was a great time.

As far as the game went, tonight was Cerveceros Night where the team celebrates Hispanic heritage by changing the team name for a day (the visitors were the Piratas from Pittsburgh), playing mariachi and Latin music, and bringing out a special jalapaño mascot for the evening.

The Brewers…er, Cerveceros…handily beat the Piratas 5-1 during this evening’s game, putting a win in the middle of a losing streak. 

You can see more of our thoughts on the stadium at our Field of Dreams report on Miller Park (click on either of those links).

The next morning, after another delicious breakfast at the wonderful Ambassador Hotel, we jump on the freeway and head north a little more than 100 miles.

In a spot where I see nothing but endless trees and very little evidence of civilization, there’s a sign that says “Lambeau Field Next Exit.” We have ended up in the pretty town of Green Bay.

Not very well signed from the exit, nevertheless we finally do see the stadium lights (it’s pretty much the highest point in town) and make our way over.

Home of the Green Bay Packers, there are stadium tours given almost everyday. In the Atrium connected to the side of the stadium, there is also an extensive gift shop and a restaurant.

We’re here for the tour and to meet my friend afterward for lunch.  We find out the history of the team, founder Curly Lambeau, and legendary coach Vince Lombardi. The team has won more championships than any other in the NFL. The gift shop sells more items than any other gift shop, in any sport, in the world.

The guide then tells us that NFL rules prohibit us from videotaping in the stadium itself, so we must rely on our still camera to tell the rest of the story.

The grass is embedded with plastic strands to keep it from getting worn out and having to be constantly replaced. 90% of the seats are just plain flat bleachers. After the current renovation is complete, it will have the second highest capacity after Dallas.

It’s a fun tour and lunch at Curly’s Pub is delicious.  Now, it’s time to pack it up, head back to Milwaukee, and move on to our next destination.

Darryl

Copyright 2012 – Darryl Musick

All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick

Copyright 2012 – Letty Musick

All Rights Reserved

Milwaukee - The City That Beer Made Famous

It’s the city beer made famous, breweries and bars dot the landscape. Our latest escapades return us to the shores of Lake Michigan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

After flying all day on Southwest and picking up a Ford Escape from Thrifty Rent-a-car at the airport, we eventually find our hotel, The Ambassador Hotel - Milwaukee, on Wisconsin Avenue adjacent to Marquette University.

Watch the Video!

The third floor room features a king size bed, a queen size sofabed, flat screen TV, wifi and wired free internet, basic wet bar, robes, ironing board and iron, accessible restroom featuring a barred bathtub with seat or roll in shower.

Letty says it’s the most comfortable hotel bed she’s ever seen.

Upon check-in, we’re offered a deal…$7.95 for breakfast vouchers. Seeing their site beforehand, and knowing that breakfast here went for twice as much, we snapped some up. We’re glad we did because breakfast is in their beautiful restaurant with entrees such as spinach omelets, pancakes, bacon and eggs, and delicious waffles covered with fruit served to your table by actual waiters. No warmed up breakfast bar entrees here.

Our main reason for being here is to notch another point for our seemingly never-ending quest to see every Major League Baseball stadium. We have tickets for tomorrow’s game but today is for exploring the city. First up…as all our friends who have experience here have been telling us…we have to go to the Third Ward.

This is an old area, burned down in a big fire long ago and rebuilt into an Italian neighborhood, that is being gentrified. While some buildings are still waiting for their time in the redevelopment spotlight, most of the area has been spiffed up and is home to nice little boutiques, restaurants, bars, and anchored by the Milwaukee Public Market.

It’s also the south end of the Milwaukee Riverwalk, a three mile long accessible walk along the Milwaukee River that takes you through the highlights of downtown.

We start filming (see the video above) and soon run into another crew doing the same thing on the river side of the Milwaukee Ale House. It’s a great walk that we’ll take full advantage of later. Tonight, we’ll have dinner at Benelux, a restaurant and bar dedicated to all the good food and drink of the European lowlands.

And what food it is…Tim and I have their very good burger served with Belgian frittes and a beer palette (four beers served on a wooden palette) made up of Belgian strong ales. Letty has the Friday fish fry with Ichtagem’s sour red Flemish ale.  That’s after a very tasty starter of tater tots filled with brie and accompanied by a Sriracha garlic mayo dipping sauce. It is very good and we vow to come back again before we leave and dig a little deeper into the menu.

An aimless trip south of town takes us to St. Francis, home of a big monastery, a bunch of bars, and a nice beach. It’s a nice place to stretch our legs a little, take some pictures, and just relax before heading back into town.

All in all, it’s a fun but short overview of the town we’ll be spending the next four days in. Stay tuned for more fun, drinking, eating, baseball, and cheeseheads here in what will turn out to be one of the best destinations we’ve been to.

-Darryl

Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick

All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick

Copyright 2012 - Letty Musick

All Rights Reserved

The Cocktail Hour: Seal Beach, California, Mini Pub Crawl

It was hot yesterday, last weekend was the first weekend of summer and this weekend was the first one with excessive heat.

112 degrees.

Watch the Video!

Time to find something cool.

Fortunately, a cool beach is waiting half and hour away. We loaded up the van and went to the closest one...Seal Beach, just over the Orange County line from Long Beach.

This is one of the smallest beach towns in Southern California but it's Main Street and pier pack a pretty good wallop as far as beach fun, shops, restaurants, and bars are concerned.

In addition to enjoying the cool, ocean air, we went to one of our favorite pubs, O'Malley's on Main, and also tried a new one, The Abbey, just up the street.

Come along on the video as we do out little mini pub crawl in one of the area's less heralded beaches.

Cheers!

Darryl

CALIFORNIA'S HIDDEN WINE COUNTRY

 

CALIFORNIA’S HIDDEN WINE COUNTRY

California has 100 American Viticultural Areas (AVA).  An AVA is a distinct wine grape growing region with boundaries set by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).  Some you’ve heard of…Napa Valley, Paso Robles, Sonoma Valley, Mendocino, Russian River…others may have escaped notice such as North Yuba, Seiad Valley, or Covelo.

Once, the MAJOR wine producing area of the state was 40 miles east of Los Angeles in the Cucamonga Valley, better known today as the Inland Empire.  With commercial vineyards dating back to 1838, it is among the oldest wine grape growing areas in the state.  At over 20,000 acres at the start of Prohibition, it was also the largest.  At that time, it had more vineyard acreage than Sonoma and Napa Counties combined.

Watch the Video!

With the booming expansion of the Los Angeles metro area, development pressures hit this area hard.  Skyrocketing land prices found many vineyards being sold, plowed under, and becoming housing tracts, shopping centers, highways, factories, and warehouses.  Little is left of the wide-open countryside I enjoyed as a youth.

Still, the old, historic vines have not completely disappeared but they still face enormous pressure.  Now, two larger producers and a couple of very small boutique wine makers are all that are left.  Sitting beneath the snow-covered peak of Mt. Baldy, this is California’s most endangered wine producing region.

It’s a Saturday with rain off and on, mostly on.  We start our day at the Original Pancake House in Orange County’s Yorba Linda.  After a filling breakfast of 49’r Flapjacks, we head over one of the last rural roads in the area, Carbon Canyon Road, which connects the area to the Inland Empire community of Chino Hills.  From there, we make our way over to our first stop, Galleano Winery in Mira Loma.

My grandmother lived a few blocks away when I was a kid.  We’d ride our motorcycles and horses for miles over the wide-open countryside here.  Now, it’s covered with houses, factories, and warehouses but at the junction of the 15 and 60 freeways, if you look to the east , there’s several acres of grapes being grown in the sandy soil.  On the street, you’ll be surrounded by warehouses.  If you turn at just the right stop sign (at Wineville and Merrill), you’ll enter a time machine and be on a small country lane with barns, farmhouses, animals, and the winery itself. 

This is exactly the way I remember Mira Loma from when I was a child.  It’s also so out of place these days as to be called “historic.”  The area is known for growing big, bold red grapes.  Zinfandel, Grenache, Mission, and Mourvèdre…all good grapes that stand up to the valley’s intensely hot summers.

At the back of the former truck mechanic’s garage is a small house that now serves as the tasting room.  Five tastes are $5 per person, price will be applied to any purchase.  While white wines are available (Galleano sources these grapes from other areas or contracts with other wineries to produce them), the reds are the star of the show here.  Cucamonga Peak Red, Legendary Pioneers Zinfandel, Old Vine Zin, Port, and Sherry are made very well here.

The valley terroir has a strong taste that infuses the wines made here.  Galleano is very good…and also very reasonable in price.  Wines here start at around $5 a bottle…good wine, too.  Many of the wines are also available in 4L jugs which make the price even lower and are great for parties.  We particularly like the haute sauterne, port, and Chianti in the jugs.

Be sure to grab a flyer from Centro Basco, a local Basque restaurant, which includes a coupon for two free glasses of Galleano wine with your dinner.

If you bring a picnic, this is a great place to grab a bottle.  Borrow a couple of glasses from the tasting staff, go outside to their little park, and have a nice relaxing lunch.  Nearby is a small zoo with farm animals such as geese and donkeys.  Hundreds of guinea pigs roam in their enclosure and a few peacocks preen.

I could spend an entire, relaxing day here but we’ve got another stop to make.

A few miles to the north, in the town of Rancho Cucamonga, is the other large wine maker here.  Joseph Fillippi has a winery and tasting room set up on Baseline Road, just east of Day Creek Boulevard off of the 210 freeway and a few blocks north of Route 66.  While there is a very small vineyard here, you can see the houses built right up to the winery’s walls…an eerie reminder that this place may not have too much of a future left.

More businesslike and industrial than Galleano, Filippi’s tasting room is a large retail establishment.  Tasting is not free here…$5 gets you five poker chips.  You trade a chip for a taste of wine.  With over 20 wines available for tasting, those five chips won’t get you very far.  If there are a few of you, share tastes with each other so you can try a larger variety of wines.

We taste several wines starting with the chardonnay and the Alicante rose and ending up with their cab/franc, zinfandels, and a variety of ports.  It’s all good but not quite as good as the wine we had earlier in Mira Loma.  That, and the fact that we just spent our money on tasting, meant that we bought the day’s wines at Galleano…not Filippi.

When will wineries stop being greedy with the tastes?  I always end up buying more where I can at least deduct my tasting fee from my purchase…this is not the case at Fillipi.

Still, they have decent wine and bottles starting at $3.95, which makes them quite a bargain compared to wineries up north and to the south in Temecula.

There is also a small appetizer bar here.  You can buy a bottle to take outside and share an app.  Not a bad way to spend the day.

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about the area’s other major tasting room, San Antonio Winery off of the 60 freeway in Ontario.  It’s also a nice place with complimentary tasting and they too have a small zoo.  A branch of the main winery in Los Angeles, this winery does not grow or produce wines here in the valley…it is strictly a tasting room.

At the end of the day, we drive back over the Chino Hills to Anaheim and have a nice dinner at the Phoenix Club, a private German club which has a restaurant and pub that is open to the public.  Here we finish the adventure, dining on schnitzel, sausages, and pretzels and wondering how much longer that handful of wine makers over the hill can last.

Darryl
Copyright 2011 – Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

DINNER TIME! Cream of Asparagus and Ham Soup

We've moved and we're no longer suburban. We'll now be known as The Cheapskate Rural Dweller since we live at least a half hour from anything that could be deemed a city or suburb.

Time to ease back into the blogging grind and we'll do it with a recipe.

It's been cold up here in Northern California and it's great soup weather. Here's one I came up with this week.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 bunch of asparagus
1 cup spinach
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 medium onion
1 medium pasilla chile
1/2 pound cubed ham
1/4 cup sherry
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Start by putting a stock pot half full of water and 2 tablespoons of salt on the stove and bring to a boil. Cut the crown spears off of the asparagus.

Put in a strainer and hang in boiling water. Cut the rest of the asparagus into 2 inch lengths.

Slice the chile into strips, remove the seeds, and then cut into 1 inch squares.

After the asparagus crowns have boiled for 5 or 6 minutes, remove and set aside. Put the chile chunks , asparagus stalks, carrots, and spinach into the boiling water. Boil for 8 minutes and strain out all but one cup of water.

Put the boiled vegetables, the onion, and the one cup of reserved water into a blender and puree for 5 seconds.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan, add the sherry, garlic, parmesan cheese, and simmer for one hour. Stir every 5 to 10 minutes.

10 minutes before the simmer period is over, add the ham and asparagus spears.

5 minutes after turning off the heat, stir in the cream.

Serve and sprinkle the cheddar over the top.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

Rolling on the River: Exploring the Sacramento River Delta

The farmland rolls away as far as the eye can see. Lazy, seemingly pristine waterways snake through the region, hemmed in by levees to protect the valuable crops below. Grapes ferment in barns while visitors sip tastes in local tasting rooms.

This bucolic area between California's capitol and the coastal mountains blocking the bay area belies it's importance to this very heavily populated state...it is the main water valve for fresh water for the entire state.

It's also very environmentally sensitive. Take too much water from the rivers that drain into it and you get salt water from the ocean seeping in, affecting crops, migrating fish and birds, and poisoning the soil. This is magnified during drought years and deferred maintenance on the levees, canals, and pumps can also wreak havoc.

Today, we'll leave the controversy behind to spend time we've never had to finally explore this region a little deeper.

Our first stop will be to get sustenance for the day. There are a number of old little towns, below the adjacent waterways and protected by levees in the region. Isleton was founded in 1874 with wharf as a steamboat stop between San Francisco and Sacramento.

It was (and is) a heavily agricultural region and, soon, canneries opened up with a 90% Asian workforce. Divided into mostly Chinese and Japanese neighborhoods, you can still see that influence today in the small downtown that looks like a preserved Gold Rush era Chinatown.

Many of the Asian-American families here have roots in the town going back over a century.

Peter Low and his wife, Yee, don't go back that far. It hasn't been quite 40 years since he immigrated from Canton, China and became a dishwasher at the town's Hotel Del Rio. He developed quite a knack for making prime rib and eventually opened his own place two doors down, Peter's Steakhouse.

That's where we're having lunch today.

We enter through the accessible back door by the bar, steps away from the top of the levee. The first floor dining room opens up beyond that and we select a nice table near the front. In summer months, there is an outdoor deck to dine on with great views of the river and the delta beyond. The restaurant has installed an elevator so that guests with mobility issues can access the upper floor, too.

Letty gets a prime rib sandwich while Tim and I each get a prime rib dip. Ours came with fries while my wife went with the clam chowder option. It's all very good but Letty says the chowder is just "ok."

Back in the van, we head over to nearby highway 12 and make a stop at the Delta Farmer's Market. This year-round produce stand benefits the Discover the Delta Foundation.

On this winter day, there's not a lot of fruit...some citrus and grapes, mostly...but there is a lot of veggies and baked goods. We pick up some oranges, mandarins, and snacks for later.

Back on highway 12, we cross the Rio Vista drawbridge where large container ships come in from San Francisco Bay to unload in the Port of Stockton. Keep going, and you'll eventually end up at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield but we're turning right on highway 84 at the other end of the bridge.

Continuing on highway 84, eventually we come to the Real McCoy. It's part of the highway but it's a ferry...one of only two publicly operated river ferries left in the state of California. The other is the J-Mac, on the other side of Ryer Island (where the ferry we're on is taking us) but we'll have to be content with this one as the J-Mac is out of service today.

The Real McCoy operates every 20 minutes so we wait our turn for about 7 minutes before boarding. It's a quick, free trip to the other bank of the river.

Now, it's a somewhat hair-raising drive on narrow, winding, levee top roads until we get to Clarksburg and a stop at Bogle Vineyards to taste some wine and pick up a few bottles for home.

This used to be a reliable, free tasting room but now charges $8 (now a Covid-inflated $20) per person for tasting...refundable if you buy at least $20 for each. We negate this a bit by sharing sips from one tasting glass and then buy a few of the moderately price bottles to meet the threshold.

It's also a good stop for accessible bathrooms and there's a lovely picnic area outside by the grapevines if the weather's cooperating.

With that, our day out on the Delta is over and it's time to head back home.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved