Sonora :: August 2008

Sonora was most definitely a memorable trip! A week before I was to depart, I broke my toe. I'm talking I REALLY broke it, with a spiral fracture on the middle toe and it hurt like hell. Not only was I in pain, I couldn't walk.....I really couldn't walk. But because the reservation was already made at the B&B, I had to show up.

I stayed at the Barretta Gardens Inn. Really nice place - I had the room that was literally in the treetops, and it had lots of windows wrapped around it. There was a wonderful soaking tub in the room and I spent happy hours in it, always keeping my foot above the water (ya, it's not easy).

There was a long porch outside my door and I sat on it every evening and morning, looking at the trees while re-bandaging my toe.

It was very hot but the room was air-conditioned. I remember it was 96 at 6 PM. Wow. I couldn't live there. Sonora was not my favorite town. For one thing, there's really nothing to do there. You can sightsee, but how long does that keep you amused? Since I travel alone, I tend to rely on my computer and my TV to entertain me in the evenings, and I had neither at the Barretta; the wireless didn't work and the TV? Hopeless. It only played DVDs and I swear - was only a 12-incher.

One day I spent several hours driving around the area. It was fiercely hot. I went out to the wilderness and thought, "Goodness, if you get stuck out here, you're hosed." I came across an adorable donkey and was going to pet him but he looked churlish, so I left him alone.

Drove around some more, got to town, and my Check Engine light came on while going up one of Sonora's very steep hills. Shut the engine off, got the manual out, and did some reading. Since the light wasn't flashing, I was ok to drive a short way to a mechanic. The first one didn't do cars, only tires - directed me to someone else. Meanwhile I was praying that I wasn't killing my engine by continuing to drive it, and my foot was throbbing.

Found the other mechanic and by this time the outside temp was 102 in the shade. The next mechanic was nice, but said he was so booked there was no way he could help me. He wrote down the names and numbers of two others and I got in my car, drove around the corner, and burst into tears. All I could think of was how lucky I was that this didn't happen out in the middle of the Sonora desert - can ya see it? "Woman found dead in desert with disabled car". I called the next mechanic, he said he also was booked. Dialed the final one, my hand shaking....very nice woman: "I'm so sorry, we're totally full." (did all of Sonora's cars break down on that weekend?) She volunteered to put her boss on the phone, who repeated the litany, "I'm sorry, we're too busy to help you." "Oh please, I'm from out of town, I have a broken toe and I can't walk, it's so hot, and I really need helppppppp!" Success! Nice man. Turned out my car was in bad shape, the brakes blew a line plus two hoses in the engine exploded. I was very lucky.

So I spent the rest of my vacation at the B&B, hungry the first night because I couldn't walk to a restaurant and of course, the B&B only serves breakfast - the next day I sent out for a pizza.

Rants & Raves

*Barretta Gardens Inn - recommended (although if you're alone, make sure you bring something to read). Owners are very nice and their breakfast was wonderful - full-sized and they offered seconds. Internet is practically non-existent, although wireless is advertised on their site (internet service is terrible in Sonora). TVs are tiny....can't beat the view though, plus the gardens and fountains outside. The afternoon lemonade and cookies are home-made and delicious. You can have breakfast either on the sun porch in the morning, or in the dining room inside the house. *Sonora area - boring as hell and hotter than same in summer. The entire town has mountains, not hills, which can be murder on your car (one of them gave my car the coup de grace).

*Restaurants - nothing to write home about. There is a casino that's supposed to be good, but I didn't go there.

*Antiques - if you're into antiques, there are some good shops in town.

*Sightseeing - go to the old town of Columbia, it's interesting. There's a great soap shop there, where you can buy cakes of soap that actually aren't cured enough and you have to store them for a month when you get home - where else do you see that? There are lots of caverns in the area and I wanted so much to see them, but I couldn't walk, much less hike : (

*Of all the towns I saw on my drives, I liked Murphys the best. Actually if I was to go up to that area again, I'd stay there. It was such a bummer not being able to walk, which meant I was really limited on what I could see.

Bummer trip.