We started the day with a visit to what must be the least crowded Trader Joe’s in the western hemisphere over in the town of Morgan Hill, CA. Since hardly anybody was in the store, we finished quickly and were home with our loot before 12:00 PM.
Peg and I decided that we needed to explore some so we drove back into Gilroy and picked up CA-152 eastbound. After a few miles through some very rich farmland, we arrived in San Juan Bautista where the mission scenes used in the Alfred Hitchcock classic film “Vertigo” were filmed. We paid the $4 a head admission fee and took a stroll through the mission property. There were a couple small museum sections, a refectory where the monks ate, a kitchen with a big wood hearth, some gorgeous gardens, a big old church and a small chapel, all made out of non-earthquake safe adobe. There is even a sign that says the place is made out of unreinforced mud masonry and should there be an earthquake when you are within the buildings, you should bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. We also took a short walk around the old town plaza where they have many ancient buildings, most of them closed.
After checking out the town’s main drag, we got onto CA-156 for the drive to Castroville, artichoke capital of the world. In the artichoke capital, we turned north on CA-1 for a short drive just inland from the coast until we turned back northeast on CA-152 back toward Watsonville and Gilroy. Highway 152 from Watsonville to Gilroy is a very curvy road through steep canyons lined with redwood, sycamore and oak trees and is quite spectacular. There are a few glimpses of the CA coastline north of Monterey from the highway and they are spectacular. We think we will be going down to Monterey during our stay here at Morgan Hill and we will certainly choose this road as our route.
The Morgan Hill campground seems to have some strange idiosyncrasies that we have not encountered in other TT parks. For instance, the guy camped not far from us seems to have numerous nocturnal visitors who come, stay a few minutes and leave. Could he be selling something? Also, cars with poorly attenuated exhaust noise wander around the park late at night. Perhaps the drivers are lost because they seems to arrive, make noise and then leave. Maybe nothing strange is occurring but I made my gun handy, just in case.
For a couple photos, click here