In 1772 Pedro Fages, the first governor at the presidio in Monterey, and Fr Crespi, a ranking clergy under Fr Serra, mounted an expedition to explore the land east of San Francisco. Following the San Pablo Bay along the strait to Martinez, then topping the western spur of Mt Diablo they became the first Europeans to see the San Joaquin Plain and the course of rivers that extended beyond, to the foothills of the Sierras. Crespi recognized the view as a vast and endless paradise, but it was not the route north that they were seeking. They then turned south, passed through Danville, then to Livermore, then west, back to the coast, over what is now Sunol. On their way they passed within a league of the Volvon, the stone grinders, caretakers of the mountain. One of the comments that Crespi makes is reference to the oaks, exceeding anything he had witnessed in all of his travels. I stood at stared at this one for some time; the oak has a resonance which cannot be described, even tho’ us poets try, not a sentence, not a word, just my open jaw and the eyes of wonder and I am reminded of something that has always been.