Flat Stanley's Trip Through the Central Valley to the Central Coast

Yesterday, we drove to San Simeon, on the Central Coast of California.

The San Joaquin Valley, which makes up the bulk of California, is an incredibly diverse land.  Bounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the east, and the Temblor and Coastal ranges to the west, the soil and climate produce 25% of our nation's food.  Almost all walnuts, pistachios, almonds, carrots are produced here.  Pomegranates, citrus, stone fruit, lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, artichokes, melons, garlic, even cotton and hay...all from our Central Valley.  Kern County also produces lots of oil...it is referred to as little Texas.

Most of the orchards now have no leaves...winter here!  This looks like a nut orchard. Tumbleweeds blow across the freeways and nestle up to the fences.

 These are grapevines...notice the drip tubing.  We have no (or very little) natural water.  Water is pumped up from aquifers (big underground lakes). The aquifers are replenished by the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada...the snow melts, the rivers fill with water, and the water flows down to the valley, goes underground to the aquifers...we LOVE rain and snow! 

We have many canals like this that criss cross our valley.  The canals deliver water to our farmers, who use very efficient ways to water their crops.

 It is not unusual to see lots of big, heavy equipment, all lined up, ready to use.

 This is a juice processing plant...Patty and Robert have a friend who grows pomegranates...the final pick of his pomegranates go this plant, where the pomegranates are pressed and the juice is extracted.  If you read the label on a grape jelly jar, you'll see that quite often, the jelly has pomegranate juice in it!

 Here we have a citrus orchard, for Halos, a variety of oranges!  Notice the windmill - when the temperature is near freezing, the farmers will turn on the windmills to move the air, to prevent frost from setting on the fruit, which would damage the crop.

  The citrus crops are ready in the winter!

 Picking the fruit, getting it ready for transport.

 As we approach the western side of the valley, we enter the oil fields, where we see drilling rigs, 

 a drilling platform for a new rig, 

 a pipeline farm and pipeline.  

 As we continue westward, we see an almond processing plant.  See all those hulls to the right?  They will be recycled!

 We start crossing the Temblor Range, where the recent rain has made the land beautiful!  See the pipeline?

The California mountains are rich with beef cattle...and the ranchers are very happy for the rain and growth of grass...as are the steers!

 This is the San Andreas Fault...yep, that hole canyon thing you see there.  Patty says it's always weird to drive through this area.  Some people think there will be a big earthquake, and CA will fall off into the Pacific Ocean!  There is measuring equipment in the fault, so scientists can determine how active the fault is. 

 The fault extends from San Francisco down to Mexico...or at least, that is the part visible to us.

 And now we're up in the Coastal Range, and we can see the Pacific Ocean.  What a beautiful, clear day!

 Here, we're driving along Pacific Coast Highway, going north, and we pass a beautiful ranch.

We're heading to Sebastian's, a local restaurant by the Hearst Castle, for a bite to eat, before checking into our hotel room.  Here I am with Robert and Flash.  There is lots of Spanish/Mission architecture along the coast, because a while ago, a Catholic priest, Father Juniper Serra  from Mexico, traveled north, and founded Missions (churches).  

 See the castle up on the hill?

 A nice walk along the beach, before heading to our hotel.  

Whew, I'm tired!  Time for some r&r....more later!