Saturday, March 16th 2013
Sunnyvale – Van Nuys
Again, it took a while to leave the
house in the morning. We were up at 6.23 am, but we were not able to
leave until 8.03 am. I guess we took it pretty easy. Drive to
Pinnacles National Monument. It was kind of grey and cloudy. It did
not look the greatest. Pretty nice drive, rolling hills, farms and
horses and cows. It was really pretty. We wanted to get gasoline in
Hollister, but we did not get the station, so we just continued. The
road was twisty sometimes, sometimes it was nice a straight. Very
green and very much enjoyable. At the end, there was a sign “next
gas 79 miles”, so we had to stop in this small town and get
gasoline. It was really old fashioned, as the pumps did not have any
modern equipment. Funny. At about 9.35 we finally turned into
Pinnacles. Couple more miles and we were by the visitor's center. We
were told, that there are five parking spots available at Bear Gulch
parking lot. We quickly got out and drove there (about 3 miles).
We were surprised how many people there
was by the visitor's center. Kids and scouts. Too many people. We got
to Bear Gulch, did not find a parking spot and had to drive back. We
parked. We had to move car to another parking lot. And we did not get
on the shuttle. Too many people. We were about to give up, but we
stayed and took another shuttle. Too many children. Bear Gulch, about
two miles of walking. It was surprisingly warm. Luckily, we were able
to escape many people and enjoy our walking. There was a lot of red
rock (kind of memories of Arizona). But it was different for
California. The trail split at one point and offered to go through
the caves (as we knew and carried a flashlight). It was interesting,
really tide and at one point there was a group of people going in
opposite direction. Somewhere in the middle, on the top, there was a
reservoir and probably about 67 people. And then … we just kept
walking. At that point we were glad we stayed and suffered through
the shuttle ride. Walk back, parking lot and we caught the shuttle at
the moment we walked there. Nice. All the parking around the
visitor's center was full. It was pretty shocking how many people
there was.
It was shortly before one o'clock when
we left Pinnacles and got on the road heading to the interstate 5.
It was a bit over 65 miles. Half of the drive was again really
pretty, green, hilly with many cows. We apparently even saw a road
runner bird. And cowboy with two dogs. Getting closer to I-5 the
landscape started to change and it looked more like a dessert. Long
drive. Coalinga, the town just before the freeway (eleven miles).
Small and sad looking tow. We got “cheap” gasoline for 4.88 and
were heading to the freeway, finally. Along the way we found many
fruit trees. And state prison (big one). J. looked online and found
that Coalinga is big with agriculture, prison and state hospital (for
sexual deviants). Weird. 160 miles on the freeway to Los Angeles. A
lot of farms, orange trees and other agriculture. Other than that …
kind of boring drive, nothing else. Getting closer to Los Angeles.
Six Flags amusement park. Many cars, city, not too bad. J.'s dad said
that Van Nuys is not safe. We got to this town relatively quickly and
safely. Just fine motel. Quite amusing day.
