Pilgrimage 2013: Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, CA May 13, 2013

For a spelling challenged person, Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma is a nightmare! To make matters worse, sometimes the mission is called Sonoma Mission. Even knowing Sonoma is wine country doesn't help. LOL. To top it all off, it is 40 miles north of San Francisco!
All being said, the mission was the northernmost and the last California Mission to be built. (But not the last one I visited.) It's the only one built during the Mexican rule of "Alta California". The Bear Flag that eventually became the California state flag was designed and raised here.

A delightful park in the middle of
the town of Sonoma, CA

The First California Flag.

The Visitors Bureau.

On closer look, it was the Library!

Streetlight in the mission
parking lot.

Not only the ever present school bus was in the parking lot,
but also a touring bus with lots of old people like me!
I didn't see them in the mission, so I'm sure they
found some good cheese and wine tasting nearby.

Mission Solano de San Francisco
in Sonoma, CA

Camero de Real Bell

I'm fascinated with the cacti.

It's a State Park and not an active church.

First you go through the museum.

The beautiful altar.

Looking in.

Looking out.

The Indian women did the cooking
and cleaning hiding behind the
cacti and trees behind the fountain!

In the backyard, the well and fountain.

Across the street is the barracks for
the soldiers to protect the mission.

More museum information

A typical soldier's room...

...and bed.

There are many stories about how California got it's flag. I'll add one here that I found. A soldier in these barracks drew one star, a bear, and the red stripe as best he could. When threatened by the Mexican army, they raised this flag, to the hoots of the crowd saying "Pig... Pig..." because it looked like a pig instead of a bear. When California finally became a state, they kept the original design only making sure the bear looked more like a bear.