The wind in Las Vegas was horrendous. It jostled my car all over the freeway. It was interesting driving through Las Vegas and getting to see all the unusual buildings they create just for gambling. The weather was very hot when the wind quit blowing. The drive from Vegas to California is pretty boring. The only break in the drive is the sudden unexpected gambling spots in the middle of nowhere. In the open fields the wind was whipping up the dust into what looked like a brown fog rolling in over the hills. Surprisingly there was not a lot of traffic on my drive out until I got to Vegas and was heading to California. Then it was like driving on the 405 in L.A. Once I arrived in California it was very hot, tons of traffic and more long boring roads to look at while driving. I left the really green mountains in Colorado. The much smaller mountains in California are already all brown. Although I did get a glimpse of some left over spring flowers tucked away in some nooks and crannies along the way. I stopped in Baker, Ca. This town is extremely small and not much in it except a few restaurants and many gas stations. One restaurant stood out in particular. It was called the Mad Greek Restaurant. It looked so out of place in a dusty western town. First of all the building was painted a very bright white, with brilliant blue awnings. There were statues all around the outside of the place. It looked like a historical Greek temple on crack. I wonder if the food was any good if they called it Mad Greek. Does that mean a Mad Greek is the cook, and or the designer of the restaurant? Next on my list was Barstow. In the interest of making travel easier for the driver, Barstow by passed the city by making you drive around it. So today's driver totally misses the whole point of a road trip. Driving through these relatively small towns is part of the joy and interest of driving on the roads in the first place. Didn't they watch the cartoon "Cars". They should bring back Route 66 and encourage people to drive those roads at least once in their life. You learn so much about the United States by stopping in the small towns and becoming a tourist. Between Barstow and Bakersfield there is a whole hillside filled with spinning propellers that create electricity. For me I found it fascinating seeing the hillside with those things spinning like crazy. It made me think of my childhood and those crazy paper pinwheels that spin when you blow on them. Now imagine the whole hillside filled with them. I drove right past Bakersfield, I was more interested in getting to my daughters house now that I am in California. On Hwy 46 not much has not changed much since I left California in 97. It is still two lanes, it is still dangerous, and who likes driving towards a setting sun?
I stopped along 46 just long enough to snap a picture of the James Dean memorial. Again, like many things, in the middle of nowhere. When I got close to Paso Robles I decided to turn left on Union Rd. Because it was a road I thought I knew. Hahaha well, the road is the same but I did not recognize anything. This particular road had wineries on both sides of the road. Wineries with names I had never heard of. When I finally got to Golden Hill Rd., I thought ah ha... I know where I am, NOT.... I did not recognize anything about Golden Hill Rd. The same for when I got on Creston Rd. I was beginning to think I had landed in a different city and someone was playing a practical joke on me. I did manage to remember the names of streets and where I thought they might be approximately. Somehow I muddled through it and found my way to my daughter’s house. Whew..
Today we drove through downtown Paso and it did not feel like the town I left so many years ago at all. I barely recognized anything.
Then tonight we drove down to San Luis Obispo and it had changed but nowhere near as much as Paso Robles. And to my delight they still had the Farmer's Market. This market is the best one in the United States. I wish they would do the Farmer's Market like this one, in Fort Collins, CO. I walked through the streets with my daughter and took pictures of the market, the people and the buildings.
We stopped and did the tourist thing of checking out Bubble Gum Alley. This is a strange thing that was started years ago where you are supposed to put your previously chewed gum on the brick wall in an alley. It has become a tourist attraction now in SLO.
I enjoyed just walking around town and taking in the sights, sounds, and yes even the smells of SLO. I really do miss the Central Coast area of California. I came upon the mission in SLO and took a few pictures. It was late so the mission was closed or else I would have gone in and toured the mission and taken pictures.
There is a creek that runs through the middle of town. It is a favorite hangout in especially in really hot weather. Or to just sit and enjoy the beauty of the creek.
Here are a few more pictures of downtown SLO at the Farmer's Market.
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