A Benicia day trip mixes California history with scones, hikes and beer

A Benicia day trip mixes California history with scones, hikes and beer

We tend to think of state capitols as grand marble monuments to governance, not parliamentary construction projects plagued by all the mishaps of home renovation. But as we strolled through the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park on a recent sunny Saturday, exploring the place where some of our earliest legislators crafted laws and debated what do about Mother Lode ruffians, we had a sudden realization: California’s earliest delegates were rathe…