My current favourite tourist attraction in the Napa Valley is Calistoga’s “Old Faithful” geyser, which features for miles around on giant roadside hoardings where it is billed as being “AMAZING”.
It isn’t amazing of course and it isn’t even particularly faithful anymore, going off multiple unscheduled times an hour. I do think it is cool that superheated water gets shot out of the Earth on a regular basis – but I’ve seen the Yellowstone Old Faithful (which actually IS amazing) and this really doesn’t compete. What I like about it that it is in total denial. It just hasn’t come to terms with the fact that it is a faded attraction – a bit like many dying British seaside resorts, they keep going because no one told them not to bother anymore. The Calistoga geyser used to be Something once upon a time during the late 1800s when it was discovered. People used the volcanic mud as a cure for all manner of ailments and came from far and wide to the area. Since then it has become a bit of an also ran – and locals drilling geo-thermal boreholes for their heating systems seem to have knocked it off kilter a bit.
Richard and Anya being AMAZED
What makes this place really special for me is that inexplicably, in the next field to the geyser there are a selection of llamas, four horned sheep, and my personal favourite, Tennessee fainting goats. The latter are afflicted with an unfortunate genetic mutation that makes them stiffen up and fall over if they are alarmed in any way. They were used in Tennessee to prevent sheep from getting eaten by coyotes until they were almost extinct (funny that). In any case there were several of them in a pen. Disappointingly they were all lying down and not getting scared and falling over at all. Sadly I’ve had to rely on youtube to see them in action. It is completely hilarious though. You know you want to have a look. Go on.