Yesterday we had a wonderful drive up US 101 to CA 1. We departed Paso Robles and drove through one of the most beautiful areas of California - the Central Coast. For most of the way on 101, travelers are not actually on the coast, but inland a little ways. This is El Camino Real, the pathway of the friars who built the missions all along the way. The road led from mission to mission, from San Diego to Sonoma. I believe the legend is that the friars planted mustard weed to mark the route. At any rate, the mustard was in bloom as was the lupine and the poppies. Just enough rain, I guess, and it was spectacular.
If travelers choose to go up Highway 1 right along the coast, it is also extremely beautiful, and you are in for a very twisty, windy trip! This is the Big Sur coastline. Yes, we have driven it but not in an RV. We also ran the Big Sur Marathon.
We have been on 101 through the Central Coast many times, and each time we marvel at the most noteworthy sights:
Mission San Miguel Archangel, just north of Paso Robles and just off the highway and very visible. The tour through the mission is very good (we did it previously), but even the view from the highway provides a good representation of what the missions looked like in the 18th century. San Miguel has not been encroached upon by development as many of the missions have.
Camp Roberts, also right off the highway. Gary's dad spent a little time during WWII at Camp Roberts, so it holds special interest for us. Today much of it is very forlorn looking. The old barracks, church and assorted other buildings are now deserted and shabby. Some of the Camp is still used by the National Guard, but not much.
San Luis Obispo. We stopped and had lunch there. It is a really nice city with Cal Poly there. Right on the highway is an old motel. In fact, it claims to be the very first motor inn in the U.S. that coined the word "motel". The last time we were by there it was a sorry sight, but this time, it had been fixed up and it looked like it was still operating as a "motel".
The Salinas River Valley. There was quite a bit of water in the river. The highway winds along the river for miles, and the river flows into the Pacific Ocean at Moss Landing (or thereabouts). But before that happens, it flows through miles and miles of vineyards (literally, vineyards as far as the eye can see), and then modern "truck farms". The Salinas Valley is one of the major produce baskets of the U.S. Yesterday the many many workers were harvesting what I believe was cauliflower. Acres and acres. I wish I could have gotten a photo - they work under a moving canopy; they cut and trim their way along the rows, and then other workers are right there wrapping and boxing. The trucks are on the move, carrying the produce to market. It is always quite a sight. Workers arrive at the fields either in their own cars, or in buses. What would our country do without this workforce? Gary thinks all the production would move south to Mexico. I am not sure we would like that, for many reasons.
At Salinas, we left US 101 and headed up CA 1, and then we were along the coast. The day got nicer and nicer with the fog being pushed back. Driving through Castroville one can see the center of artichoke production in the U.S. I remember the first time I saw this area, and for awhile I couldn't figure out what these strange looking plants were, and then I realized, Oh, yes, that's an artichoke!!
Then as you drive through Watsonville, you realize that this is a major strawberry producing area. Acres and acres.
Driving through Aptos and Santa Cruz reminded us of the several times we ran the Wharf to Wharf 10K there. I looked at the race info on the Web and saw that this year's July race is the 40th annual! Santa Cruz looked very spiffy.
After leaving Santa Cruz, Highway 1 goes right up the coast. It is a knock-your-sox-off beautiful drive. One passes many State Beaches including Ano Nuevo which is Mecca for surfers. All the beaches looked really good, especially the ones in San Mateo County - the facilities freshly painted and signage all new. The wildflowers were spectacular.
We arrived at Half Moon Bay, which is our Bay Area destination and the place we will stay for 11 days. While we had great weather for our drive, the weather deteriorated as evening wore on, and was raining by about 10:00 p.m. But we did manage to get in a beach walk and saw three or four sea lions in the water just a little ways off shore.
