Mission Possible

After our soggy safari, we packed up at Safari West and headed more into town to stay at a second hotel within walking distance of Delia's mission.  We strolled around downtown Sonoma for a bit, warmed up in the hotel hot tub, ordered pizza, and watched the Cubs game in our hotel room.  For one person in our party, coming face-to-face with a giraffe was emotionally and physically exhausting, and sleep overtook them early.  We were cracking up when we saw the way she fell asleep in the bed and asked through giggles, "Who's sleeping with Delia tonight?  Apparently no one."

Our last day of this getaway was all about learning.  Armed with my camera and her little notebook, Delia was very serious about collecting photos and facts for her mission scrapbook.  We were thankful that a wonderful docent, who just loves 4th graders doing mission projects, became our personal guide for an hour and showed us every detail of the Sonoma Mission.  Especially since the Sonoma Mission is really tiny and there was actually not too much to see!

We learned that of the 21 missions, this was not only the most Northern one, it was also the last created and it only operated for about 12 years, under Mexican leadership, not Spanish.  We also learned that it is only 1 of 2 of all the missions that are not under the ownership of the Catholic Church.  Because it is owned instead by the California Park System, and because it practically crumbled to the ground in the 1908 earthquake, almost everything we saw was a recreation and "artist's rendition" of what it probably looked like, made for educational purposes only.  The only original thing still at this mission was its bell, which our docent encouraged Delia to ring with his mallet.

This mission was the perfect one for Delia to study, because it was not too huge and there is not an overwhelming amount of information that goes with it.  We're glad to have toured missions that are all different with totally unique-to-them stories now.

We made another stop at a mission museum attached to a winery, also.  This museum has paintings and models of all 21 missions, as well as authentic Miwok Indian artifacts.  Our stop here helped Delia glean just a few more pieces to the bigger mission story.

The mission museum/winery also had this cool fish pond where we fed the entertaining carp.  And we took a nice walk around the vineyards, where the colors are starting to change and look spectacular!

We feel like such smart parents squeezing two great vacations out of our girls' mission projects.  If you have an upcoming 4th grader, we definitely recommend giving them that nudge to explore a mission in a getaway-worthy area! :)