Places, Earth
San Jose, 2018
San Jose, 2018
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Places, Earth
San Jose, 2018 |
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Day One, A Little Egypt We left at 8:00 AM, heading north on I-5. It was late summer and the hills were golden brown and reminded me of the Kate Wolf song, “The Redtail Hawk” with the line Golden Rolling Hills of California. After stopping at the rest area at Labec, we headed down the Grapevine into the San Joaquin Valley, listening to CDs by the Sons of the San Joaquin. We stayed on I-5 at the I-5 and 99 fork and drove past both productive and non-productive farms. The drought is hard on this source for much of the food consumed by Americans. Often we saw signs that said such things as, “Valley Farms, No water, no jobs.” “Congress made dust bowl.” “Growing food is not wasting water.” We continued past a closed rest area and were happy that the one just north of the Merced County line was open. A few minutes later we took the exit to Highway 152 west toward Gilroy. As we drove past the San Louis Reservoir, we could see that the water level is much lower than the first time we stopped at the Visitor Center some years ago. We wanted to stop at Casa de Fruta but we were running behind so we will have to stop another day. We passed many fruit stands and had we been on the way home, we would have stopped to load up. |
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We arrived at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum just in time for the 2:00 PM planetarium show. We enjoyed the museum which is multi level with about four galleries filled with Egyptian and some related artifacts. There is a reproduction of a tomb which we liked, but as we exited, it took a minute to figure where we were and how to get back to the gallery we had just entered. A new gallery discusses alchemy. Outside are gardens and quiet spaces. We spent about two and a half hours and moved on. |
 Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum |
History Park.
| It wasn't far to Kelley Park and we found History Park about fifteen minutes before closing. It was much too much to see in less than a few hours and earlier in the day they operated a trolley, so we took a quick look and hope to return another time. All the buildings were closed and many have their own hours, so it may be hard planning a return trip when everything is open. Kelley Park also has a zoo and gardens and I think we could spend most of a day in and around the park. |
| Next we did two quick stops, a Welcome to San Jose mural and a sculpture at Pellier Park. Pellier Park is confusing, different web sites have different locations. I think is was removed and may be put back at another location. There is a street divider that some say is Pellier Park, a concrete space about 200 feet in the longest direction with a two equestrian and rider sculpture at one end. The statue is Thomas Fallon Equestrian Monument which may be here only temporarily. Or if you get your information from another source, Pellier Park may be two blocks away, there seems to be confusion here. |
 Welcome to San JoseRoad |
 Thomas Fallon Equestrian Monument |
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We wanted to have dinner at San Pedro Square, but parking was too hard. We found our hotel, checked it, and found a place to eat. We got gas for the first time on this trip, my car got almost 30 miles per gallon on the open road which made me happy. We returned to our room and wrapped things up. Day Two, A Little Mystery |
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Since I was on vacation, I awoke about 4:30 and attended 6:30 Mass at a simple church on the south side of town, giving me a glimpse of normal people. I did pass a large eBay complex on the way. We enjoyed a great continental breakfast and got ready for the day. | |
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We began our day at the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum and Country Park. The mine went into production a few years before the Gold Rush, providing mercury to silver mines in Mexico. Today, Casa Grande, which was once a hotel serving the mine, houses a collection of displays. We drove a quarter of a mile further where there is a collection of mining equipment. |
 New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum and Country Park |
| We next headed to the Winchester Mystery House. We arrived about Noon for our 2:00 tour which was good because the tour was really 1:00. I photographed the garden and house exterior while my wife rested on a bench in the shade. The Winchester House is well documented so I will refer your other sources for details, but will mention a few oddities. Mrs. Winchester believed she was haunted by the spirits of people killed by the guns her husband invented and only by continuously building on the house, would the noise keep the spirits away. |
 East facade of Winchester House. |
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Carpenters worked 24 hours a day, every day, rain or shine, adding rooms, rebuilding rooms, adding details. The house has about 161 rooms, 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 3 elevators, 47 fireplaces, the list goes on. The house has several sets of easy riser stairs, about two inch steps to make climbing easier as she got older. Spider webs and 13 of something are two motifs often used in the house. We were a bit worn after the second tour and returned to the hotel for a fifteen minutes rest. | |
| The day before, the San Pedro Square area was so crowded, we went elsewhere for dinner, but today we tried again. This time I found the entrance to the parking structure and we were able to park. There are two historic buildings here operated by the history museum that we | |
 San Pedro Square. |
 Peralta Adobe, El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe. |
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visited yesterday. The Fallon House across the street was closed as was the Peralta Adobe in the space between the two building of the San Pedro Square Mart. The Adobe is all that is left of he original Pueblo (El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe), one of three Pueblo's establish by Spain in the early years of settling California. We enjoyed our dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory and returned to the hotel. | |
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Day Three, A Little Side Trip |
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We arose at 5 and were nearly packed in time for 6:00 AM continental breakfast. We enjoyed our continental breakfast, loaded the car, checked out, and headed south. We took a side trip to see the Royal President Chapel in Monterey. I had visited last Easter, by it was set up for the holy day and the crucifix was covered. I just wanted a better photo. It was overcast and quiet and I got my photo. We headed back to Salinas. |
 Royal President Chapel in Monterey. |
| We were fifteen minutes early for the National Steinbeck Center so I photographed Main Street while we waited. We had driven past the center many times and I had hoped to visit last March but got to town too late. We wandered about for an hour and a half, learning about the great author, John Steinbeck. We were impressed with the displays and left with several audio books and paperback books. |
 The Lobby of the National Steinbeck Center. |
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While trying to find the Steinbeck House, we stumbled on a railroad museum and a historic Harvey house, owned by someone named Harvey, not one of the famous chain of railroad restaurants. We finally found the Steinbeck House, which is now a restaurant, closed today, and I photographed it. We moved on, heading south on Highway 101. |
 Information sign at Camp Roberts Rest Area. | I had forgotten about the oil field about fifteen miles north of San Miguel. The Salinas Valley was an inland sea 20 million years ago and as dying microorganisms settled to the bottom, the result was oil. We stopped at Camp Roberts Rest Area and had a picnic in the car, then continued. We turned west at Highway 46 and shortly thereafter, hit a long slow traffic jamb because road construction had two lanes closed and there is a backup when Highway 41 merges. A sign saying construction would start tomorrow mislead me. Although it had only been a few miles since the last rest stop, |
| it took so long to get to the next, Shandon Rest Area, we stoppedagain. It was just before this that traffic finally eased and we moved freely until a little north of the junction with Highway | |
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99. Ironically, while the south-bound Buttonwillow Rest Area was closed, the north bound, which had been closed a few days earlier on our way north, was now open. We crawled up the grapevine, stopped at the rest area at Lebec, and continued home. We hit traffic again just north of Castaic. We had hoped to be home by 5:00 PM but finally reached home by 7:30. The dogs were happy to see us. Total miles, 786, 18 hours driving time. |
 Information sign at Shandon Rest Area |
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