Roads with Character

Andrew Carnegie was a steel magnate with a drive towards philanthropy.  His best contribution to the United States of America was public libraries.  Hundreds of cities, towns, and communities across the contiguous states gained libraries they otherwise wouldn't enjoy.  Up to that point, most libraries were organized by women's clubs and housed in somebody's front parlor.  Carnegie required that cities support the libraries he funded--hence the public library system grew to become the standard in every town.

I was fascinated to discover that there were Carnegie libraries all over my home state.  As Jenni and I researched the subject we decided to locate as many libraries as we could.  Without looking at the statistics, I'd say about 60% of Carnegie library buildings still exist--many still housing public libraries.  A great example of the Carnegie legacy is the Seattle library system.  Six of the original seven Carnegie community libraries still operate in the Seattle Public Library system.  These libraries were all updated a couple years ago and are just beautiful.  My favorite is the Columbia branch, although the Fremont branch comes a close second.

The more we investigated libraries, the more I became enthralled.  Jenni found websites for Oregon and California Carnegie libraries and my passion grew.

Hence our adventure today.  We started off traveling to the Carquinez Bridge to Vallejo.  In order to get there, our drive included a small windy road over the hills. This was just the first in a long line of interesting roads that we visited.  The Bay Area really is a beautiful part of California, particularly in Spring.  Everywhere we went we found green hills, a large variety of trees, wildflowers lining the roadways, and beautiful little towns.

We drove over the old section of the Carquinez Bridge into Vallejo, passed around Six Flags and headed West on Hwy 37 (the fourth highway so far just on this day).  Soon after joining the highway we started up a VERY steep bridge with VERY low sides.  It was a rather odd feeling, but quite exciting.  Hwy 37 takes you right along the north bay at sea level.  The two lane highway was built on wetlands and so the asphalt road undulates for miles.  Highway speeds in California run a bit high and drivers run even faster.  We bounced and weaved while observing the beauty around us.

We joined another highway and headed north to Sonoma.  This valley is wine country and grape vines were all around.  We found our first Carnegie library in this beautiful little town.  The central square where the library (now a Visitors Center) occupies reminded me quite a bit of the town square in "Back to the Future."  I kept looking for Marty McFly and his DeLorean.  The last and northernmost mission in the Spanish mission system is located catty corner from the library square.  This is a fun little town and I wish we had more time to visit all the shops.

Back onto the dinky little highway and we headed north to the smallest, windiest road is the entire state of California.  I love driving this type of road!  Luckily no one in the back seat got carsick.  This road took us over the hills and dropped us into Napa Valley to the east.  Our target was a library located in St. Helena but on the way we stopped at our favorite winery--V. Sattui.   They only sell wine at the winery and since we rarely drive down here, we don't often get to stop by.  We picked up sandwiches at their deli and enjoyed lunch in their picnic area.  Afterwards, we tasted several wines and came away with nine bottles (three for you, Elysa!).  V. Sattui makes my favorite Reisling.  I'm happy now!

Afterwards we fought traffic into St. Helena and found our target building off the highway.  This one is a community building and was locked up.  We didn't get to look inside, but it is a good example of how a community tried to make the building look less typical and more special.

Back on the road heading north (another small but less windy beauty), we headed through the hills over to Healdsburg where we found our third Carnegie Building.  This one is now a museum and we received permission to take pictures inside. This is a good example of a typical Carnegie library.

We were forced to leave beautiful, little highways and drove on Hwy 101 down to Petaluma.  The Petaluma building is an extraordinary building.  It was huge--at least compared to the other buildings we saw today--and had a large domed stained glass ceiling.  This was a two-story building (all of these buildings included daylight basements--typical of Carnegie buildings).  This building is beautifully restored and is now a museum.  The woodwork is astounding and extravagant.

It was getting late after we left the Petaluma building so we headed south on 101 towards home.  We hit a bit of traffic (it was Friday afternoon) but eventually made it to downtown Walnut Creek.  My parents' hometown is stunning downtown.  The city created an outdoor mall area that encompasses several city blocks.  The stores are largely upscale and my mother wanted us to visit the new Neiman-Marcus store.  Talk about extravagance!  This place is unbelievable.  I felt so out of place amongst the artwork.  The city requires all new buildings to have some sort of public art, and Neiman-Marcus went all out.  Artwork dances in the wind over the entrances.  There was artwork in the window displays and on the interior walls.  The ultimate of pretentiousness.

We're finally home and relaxing on the back deck.  The temps reached about 72 degrees today and we enjoyed plenty of sunshine.  Tomorrow is a day on foot--no more driving marathons until Monday.