This trip was mostly about unfinished business.
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We've passed the turnoff to Pinnacles National Park several times on trips to and from the Monterey Bay area but we never actually made the turn, Of course it didn't become a national park until 2013 and I'm not entirely sure why even then. The pinnacles themselves are the remnants of a volcano.
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| Pinnacles from East Side of Park |
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| The Pinnacles |
Other than that, the park is known for its remote location, extreme summer temperatures, two talus caves with large bat populations (closed when we visited), and as a release point for some of the captive-bred California condors (which we didn't see). It was established as a National Monument in 1908 but because there was no access it was almost abandoned in 1922. Today there is access to the west entrance out of Soledad and to the east entrance out of Hollister (which is not in southern California and is nowhere near the ocean) but no roads go through the park.
The west entrance is said to have an automated gate that is open between 7:30AM and 8:00PM, but the Contact Station there is closed until summer. We drove to the east side where they do have a visitors' center, however, the park film is shown at the Bear Gulch Nature Center which is only open on weekends. The film can be viewed online but there is no cell phone or internet access in the park.
LANDS END, GOLDEN GATE NRA
Back when we used to go to the San Francisco Zoo fairly regularly, we would finish the day by driving over to the Great Highway. We would visit the Cliff House with its Camera Obscura and Musée Mécanique and then head south on Hwy 1 through the breath-taking and dangerous Devil's Slide area down to Half Moon Bay and then turn east to head home over the San Mateo Bridge.
On this trip, we found that there have been quite a few changes since we left California. We visited the Lands End Overlook Visitor's Center (2012), ate lunch at the renovated Cliff House (2013 - the Camera Obscura is still there but the Musée Mécanique has been moved), and drove down Hwy 1 through the Devil's Slide bypass tunnel (2011).
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| Cliff House and Camera Obscura at Lands End |
NILES CANYON RAILROAD
We lived in southern Alameda county for 30 years but never rode the Niles Canyon Railroad. It's on the original trans-continental route and there are fun weekend excursions from Sunol to Niles. The Niles District was once the home of Essenay Studios where they filmed Broncho Billy westerns and Charlie Chaplin comedies early in the 20th century. The train museum there has two fairly large model railroad setups, one HO-scale and one N-scale which were fun to see in action.
An interesting aspect of this train ride is that as one diesel engine pulls the train on the trip north, a second diesel engine follows behind. Then in Niles, the following engine is coupled to pull the cars south on the return trip.
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| Niles Canyon Northbound Engine |
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| Niles Canyon Southbound Engine |
BIG TREES AND PACIFIC RAILROAD
We rode the Roaring Camp Railroad through the giant sequoias north of Santa Cruz in 2015, but didn't realize that there was an additional railroad that went from the Santa Cruz Boardwalk up to Roaring Camp. So on this trip to Santa Cruz we rode that train.
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| Big Trees & Pacific Train at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk |
It was a fascinating experience. We boarded right at the Santa Cruz boardwalk and there was a real party atmosphere as people came out of their homes to wave at us as we rumbled through the historic district of Santa Cruz right down the middle of the street through stop signs and red lights. Once in Roaring Camp we watched the steam train that went up the mountain pull in, board passengers and begin the journey again.
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| Steam Engine at Roaring Camp |
CAPITOLA
I'm actually embarrassed to admit that while I have visited Monterey, Carmel, and Santa Cruz on many occasions, I had never visited Capitola until this trip. I'm not sure how I missed it. It's California's oldest, and perhaps best, seaside town, famous for the Venetian Hotel's pastel colored bungalows right on the beach.
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| Capitola's Venice Hotel Bungalows |
We visited on a warm, mid-week day and since school was out, the beach and restaurants were lively places. Surfing in California is supposed to have begun on the waves at Santa Cruz, but today Capitola seems to be the place for beginners. It reminded me of the days when snowboarding was just beginning. That was a never-ending series of crashes and falls as everyone learned to hold their balance. Everyone on the water at Capitola seemed to be a beginner and the results were the same.
PEA SOUP ANDERSON'S
I have no idea just how many times we passed this place on I-5 but we never stopped there because we always ate lunch at the Harris Ranch in Coalinga. Since we were merely crossing I-5 on this trip, we finally got to visit.
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| Pea Soup Anderson's |
The first time I heard of Pea Soup Anderson's was in 1965 when Bob Dylan ate there while traveling from Los Angeles to Berkeley. The story, in Rolling Stone I think, was supposed to be an ironic look at a rebel eating at a tourist trap, but I remember thinking to myself that the dude had to eat somewhere. Of course, now I know that they should have taken him to the Harris Ranch.
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CAPITOLA ADDENDUM
Summer 2018
With California wildfires ruining August at Tahoe, we headed back to Capitola looking for clean air.
The fastest route is I-80 west to the Bay Area and then south through San Jose and Santa Cruz, but that's a major truck route and no way to start a vacation. It was a half-hour longer, but we took CA-88 through Gold Rush country, then down to the San Luis Reservoir heading west to the ocean. It was a relaxing, pleasant drive in both directions.
Since we made these plans at the last minute, we weren't able to get a good room at the colorful Venetian Hotel, but we did okay and got to stay at the Capitola Beach Suites. We had a balcony suite with a great view of the ocean every bit as good as what we would have had at the Venetian. Beach access was just a few feet away and it was a great place to stay.
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| Capitola Beach Suites Behind Venetian Hotel |
We explored the shops in Capitola and ate at several of the restaurants on the Esplanade. The beginner surfers were still on the bay and we discovered the more experienced surfers off the Opal Cliffs at Pleasure Point. "The Hook" is apparently well known for its consistent waves and it was fairly crowded when we were there mid-week, but the surfers there seemed to know what they were doing. It reminded me of a Blue Slope.
We did visit Moss Landing, again. We keep saying we're going to rent kayaks there and someday we will. This time, we hiked over the dunes to the shoreline and collected seashells, then walked back to watch a dozen sea otters floating in Elkhorn Slough. We really do need to rent kayaks there.
In addition to Pea Soup Anderson's, California has a number of roadside stops that started out small and grew into something special. Knott's Berry Farm is probably the best-known and Disney built his park as close to it as possible to tap into its visitors.
Other famous ones we've visited are The Nut Tree in Vacaville and the Harris Ranch restaurant in Coalinga. Our trip back to Reno took us by Casa de Fruta and we stopped to check it out. With a restaurant, deli, winery, and a small railroad park attached to the original fruit stand, it was an interesting place. The pond full of snapping turtles was just a bonus.
Our return to Reno saw the air quality climb into Good territory just in time for the Best in the West Rib Festival at the Nugget. Good times indeed!
For a few more photos, go to Santa Cruz 2018
