Expert on Wineries of California and the Gold Rush, Don Baumgart, Interviewed
7 min readNorm Goldman, Editor of the mobility site, www.sketchandtravelcom and the book reviewing and source interviewing site, wwwbookpleasurescom, interviews locomotion writer and author, Don Baumgart on Calfornia’s wineries and the Gold Rush.
Expert on Wineries of California and the Gold Rush, Don Baumgart, Interviewed
Today, Norm Goldman, Editor of sketchandtravelcom is appreciative to posses as our guest, Don Baumgart Don is a emancipate spear writer and parent of It Came From Citrus Heights
Good day Don and thanks for agreeing to participate in our interview
Norm:
Don, could you apprise our readers article about your personal and professional background.
When did your emotion for writing begin? What keeps you going?
Don:
My prime activity out of college was working for the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, a daily newspaper Harry Truman described as the later worst paper in the US I conjecture it has improved some since then. I moved to Seattle where I went to afafir for the Associated Press I’ve always liked newspaper activity because no day brings the equivalent stories I drifted into federal relations (for the money) and modern worked for the Sacramento Bee. Money for victuals and sublet hold me going. And, I really like to write
Norm:
I assume you are interested in the California Gold Rush and you own written some articles pertaining to this keynote How did you become interested in the California Gold Rush? And, as a befall up, if one were to moving to California in aim of the areas where there were gold race activities, where would one begin? What is there today by manner of museums, etc? Could one plan a cruise solely based on the California Gold Rush?
Don:
When California commemorated its 150th anniversary I wrote a series of weekly Gold Rush legend columns that I syndicated to newspapers California’s gold rural generally runs along Highway 49 from Downieville south to Columbia. Many locations posses preserved buildings in their original area and there’s a mound to see In Nevada City, Firehouse #1 has been taken over by the Nevada County Historical Society and made into an deserving meagre historical museum A few miles other south, frontage Grass Valley, the Empire Mine is run as a museum by the state, giving visitors a wellbeing look at how hard-rock mining was conducted once the surface nuggets had been harvested This mine produced $5 million in gold during its working life. Also in Grass Valley visitors bequeath find the North Star Powerhouse Museum where a 30 foot Pelton Wheel is on present These wheels used bedew to grow force to run mine equipment
Norm:
I also conjecture that you are interested in wineries. If you had to choose 8 of the most unique and perfectionist wineries you own visited, which ones would they be and why? Please briefly describe them
Don:
Before Prohibition there were over 100 wineries in the Sierra foothills They disappeared when alcohol was outlawed Now the young of grapes and forging of wine is fulfilling the prophecy of one Gold Rush era winemaker who said, “Gold is an celebrated origin of livelihood.but it leave not last The wines commit be other important”
Nevada City Winery is housed in a tin building dating from Gold Rush days and stagnant signal “Foundry Garage.” Horses delineation carriages clop down the streets in Nevada City, preceding California’s oldest hotel and on through this charming gold mining town preserved in its historic field At night gas lights decorate the stillness streets Victorian homes converted to bed and breakfast accommodation in and around Nevada City make a stopover delightfully restful.
Quality wines from more small foothill wineries embrace the bond of more wellbeing tasting. The Apple Hill innocent front Placerville, in El Dorado County, is a picturesque vista dotted with wineries A comfortable two-hour drive south from Nevada City on Highway 49 takes visitors preceding Sutter’s Mill, where gold was discovered, and deeper into California’s additional wine country
El Dorado Winery, like most of Placerville’s small wineries, produces estate bottled wine — their varieties are made from grapes grown in their retain vineyards Their vintages are only available at the winery or in local restaurants
At the Madrona Winery the comfortable wood paneled tasting room is decked with ribbons their wines own brought home Outdoor celebration tables invite visitors to move a spree lunch and complement it with a bottle of wine from the tasting room
Lava Cap Winery’s deck with picnic tables overlooks the vineyards, and visitors are encouraged to manage lunches A term ahead consign originate a waiting chilled bottle of wine to accompany a picnic.
Boeger Winery is nestled into an orchard, its tasting room in an expired stucco-covered nut building with a tin roof, built in 1872. Outside fig trees shade party tables, separated by a seed fence from a trickling creek, inviting lunch bringers to the grounds
California’s fresh wine innocent is producing wines that are winning gold medals in adept judgings, bringing some of the yellow metal back to its homeland, and providing tasting opportunities to travelers who distinguish its fecund rewards
Norm:
When writing your movement articles, please explain some of your research techniques, and how you find sources for your articles?
Don:
Going there is key. When I decide on a destination I then query editors on their good in easy articles. A excursion to New Orleans produced a piece recognized by Porthole, a voyage ship magazine, on what to do in the Big Easy before or after a excursion from there I subscribe to a weekly e-mail newsletter, WritersWeeklycom, that provides a constant supply of report about publications looking for writers That has been quite generous It’s where I found Porthole. I sold a piece on the railroad that runs along the Panama Canal to International Railway Traveler, a publication that had declared an earlier body of mine on the Napa Valley Wine Train When I retain a locomotion message impression I run over, in my mind, the magazines in which I keep previously been avowed That’s always a sake style to means an editor: Remember me. Porthole took the New Orleans piece because I had earlier sold them an phenomenon on FDR’s void yacht, the Potomac, which has been converted to a legend cruise bottom operating out of Oakland, California
Norm:
What’s your advice to obtain success as a writer? What do you consider your prime “break” as a writer? How do you come up with ideas for what you write? What methods do you use to flesh out your conviction to determine if it’s salable?
Don:
I define success as ink on paper, not cash (although that’s important, too.) I guess my first discontinue was being hired by the Review as a reporter when I applied for a non-writing assignment I try to gather thumping interesting places to visit, looking for the unusual, and trying to tenon the inactive message to a specific publication Editors dearth short, well written queries they can digest quickly. I never comprehend if a story belief is truly salable until I hear back from an editor And, I hardly write an entity until the notion is accepted, because each publication has friend writing requirements
Norm:
What does progress mean to you?
Don:
Besides a follow to earnings for my vacations, I assume motility has a broader aspect: the opportunity to procure away from one’s everyday life and look back from a span at what one takes for granted Some behalf insights come from the long look
Norm:
How posses you used the Internet to promote your writing career?
Don:
I used to gain hawk tips from a monthly journal now I secure them weekly, online And, of course, the submission juncture is virtually nil. Push a button and the article is on the editor’s screen Research is another Internet bonus for today’s writer I wrote a romance on restored historic trains, The Ghosts That Roar, by doing a mass of the preliminary research online.
Norm:
Besides writing for magazines, what more writing gigs obtain you found profitable or rewarding?
Don:Probably the most fun I have writing is the assignment I do for The Mountain Messenger, California’s oldest weekly newspaper, declared in Downieville The editor believes there is no such device as hunt reporting, as illustrated by his classic report announcement lead: If a trek of a thousand miles begins with a single step, the Planning Commission has picked out a team of socks
Norm:
Is there anything else you dream to add that we hold not covered?
Don:
Just a plug for another story I wrote, It Came From Citrus Heights. It’s a science fiction locomotion book, about aliens who exhibit up at a science fiction convention because, who would notice? More data can be found HERE
Thanks once again and sake luck with all of your future endeavors
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