Friday, January 27, 2006

Angwin

Angwin. Such a great name that makes me think of an ancient and noble hamlet nestled into the Welsh countryside. Instead, it's a town of about 2500 people at about 2000 ft elevation that is nestled into the Napa countryside 7 miles northeast of St. Helena. It fuels the Angwin Reporter.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened on my visit.

After a beautiful ascent up the side of a hill, careening soooo close to steep dropoffs, I saw the decorative "Angwin" town sign. Then there was a strip mall with a such things as grocery market, a laundromat, and a post office. I'd heard that there was a college named Pacific Union College here, and across the street, its campus started. At the next intersection, there were signs for college buildings to the right. I continued straight in search of downtown, and found myself driving through a tunnel of evergreen trees. A sign warned me that there would be curvy roads for the next 4 miles. So, I made a left and eventually circled back through a residential area to the strip mall, which I guess is Angwin's downtown. And that was it.

Back when I was desperately looking for an apartment, I almost looked at one in Angwin. My desperation would have remained. It's not a bad town, but I think I missed exactly what people do there.... where people go.... where people are....

I wanted to take pictures, but the sun wasn't right for the strip mall itself, so this is the view looking across the street....


I descended back down the road, and hopped out of the car at a turn off.




There were other turn offs with great views of the valley, but I was too busy keeping track of the curves to stop in time for them.

I took the Silverado Trail back to Napa, which runs parallel to Hwy 29 on the east, and is somewhat of a locals' road. It's slightly curvy, right on the fields, and people drive really fast on it. Part of it looks like this.


The mustard is starting to come up, and soon the valley will be blanketed in yellow. It's a big deal here. The Grand Opening Event of the Napa Valley Mustard Festival is being held at the CIA this weekend, and word is that it will be packed.


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