Around the Bay

 

I left Salinas Saturday morning after stopping in Old Town for coffee and checking out the farmer's market. For being at the epicenter of agriculture, the market was pretty modest. Mostly it featured non-food goods. It was nice, though. I headed north out of town with the intention of finding a hotel in Watsonville. The drive between Salinas and Watsonville is very hilly, but again, you know you've arrived because you enter into a valley covered with vegetables. And in the case of Watsonville, strawberries. Again like Salinas, Watsonville is an old farming town. I thought I could find the hotels that I knew were here, but after driving around for a while, I decided I might as well try my luck in Santa Cruz. I headed over to Highway 1 and started north. I knew from previous research that Santa Cruz on Saturday night was either full or expensive. I decided to look a little farther out. I headed up Route 17, which runs between San Jose and Santa Cruz. There wasn't much along there that was suitable so I went over to Route 9, which also runs between basically San Jose and Santa Cruz, only it's just two lanes and quite curvy. What's nice is that it goes through redwood forest most of the way. I only found an Econolodge north of Fenton but it was full. I turned around and headed back south towards Fenton . There wasn't anything available there so I followed 9 all the way to Santa Cruz. That was a wild curvy ride on a skinny road with rock outcrops right up against the road. And to make it more fun, packs of cyclists headed downhill. And constant traffic uphill. I didn't get to notice much except that the part that goes through the county park is all redwoods, and it's very popular.

I eventually made it to Santa Cruz. I picked up Highway 1 again and headed north out of town. I stopped at two non-descript hotels; one was full and the other wanted $250 for their smallest room. So I kept driving out of town. I soon came to my second farmer's market of the day, and this one was what you hope a California market would be like. Not very large, but filled with vegetables, flowers, and fresh fish. I bought a bag of dried organic apricots. They taste like jam. Delicious.

I turned around and decided to try around the beach downtown. That was a bad idea. Saturday traffic was awful. I finally saw a hotel that didn't have its No Vacancy sign lit up- another Econolodge. The big convict who was at the front desk told me they had a room $140. I declined because none of the rooms had windows and the place actually looked like a prison. I decided then that I might as well head south to Monterey.

On my way to Monterey on Highway 1, I passed the Red Roof I'm in now. I stopped and got a room. after checking in and changing I headed out. I drove around the area, following the Pacific Bike Trail signs. I eventually ended up back on Highway 1. I turned south and after a short drive I came to Moss Landing State Beach. Nabil and I stopped here some years ago and he didn't like it because it had so much debris on the beach. It's a long beach and I guess it doesn't get a lot of visitors. The shape of the beach isn't right for bathing, or maybe it's because the water is gross due to the inputs from the Salinas valley. Anyway, I liked it, since it had so much debris. A lot of shells, sand dollars, many types of kelp, and several dead animals- a seal, a sea lion, and what I'm guessing are Pacific Loons. You don't often get to see a beach in its natural state, and this is what I imagine that state is.

I have to go now. It's time to check out and housekeeping is getting anxious.

I've got a line on two hotels in Monterey that have cheap rooms available tonight. I'm not sure what I've got in mind aside from that.