My wife and I got tired of being in the fog on the Coast near San Francisco where we live most of the time (about 1/2 of the time we spend now in Santa Barbara these days too.
But, we had returned from her best friend's 70th birthday party with all her relatives in Santa Rosa where my wife grew up until she was 7 years old too before her family eventually moved to Santa Barbara around when she was 12 I think.
So, we just got tired of the continuous mostly fog along the coast where we live and wanted to see the sun once again.
So, I checked the weather and because the weather was about 76 degrees in San Juan Bautista Friday that it might be nice to drive there as long as we didn't get caught in Rush Hour Traffic anywhere along the 101 Freeway.
So, we headed out I think about 1 or 2 pm for this trip. Getting there was okay because the traffic wasn't bad. Then we went to Hollister because I don't think my wife had ever been to Hollister before in her life.
Whereas I had driven through Hollister to get to my fire Lookout for the California Department of Forestry in that same area at about 4000 feet altitude in the cattle ranches out where the coastal range meets the San Joaquin Valley. North of there on I-5 is also the Sacramento Valley.
Often when I went on duty at the fire lookout (usually from May of 1985 and 1986 to October of 1985 and 1986 which were the years I did this. Also, since this was a 6 month only job I was able to go to Japan, India, Nepal and Thailand with my family (wife and three kids then 10 to 14 years old from December of 1985 until April of 1986. Also, we owned several other businesses which we had a relative of my wife's run while we were gone to Asia for 4 months as well.
So, yesterday, Friday, we did whatever business we needed to accomplish in the morning and headed off to San Juan Batista. I had only drive through the main part of town once in my life likely in the last 6 months sometime. I told my wife there were many antique Stores there which really made her want to go there when I told her this as well as to get in the increasingly sparse sun along the coast this summer. The Fog comes in a lot more because of the warmer weather inland. It evaporates off the ocean and since the prevailing winds move off the ocean in an Easterly direction normally it blows the fog (high or low or even drizzling (it has been drizzling a lot over nights on the coast) which is nice because it prevents fires on the coast where we live this summer and fall too.
But, living without barely seeing the sun at all all summer long is a bit much too, even though it is better than living in 100 degree to 115 degree Fahrenheit heat often inland from where we live if we leave our ocean town where we live. So, a lot of affluent people tend to live along the coast near San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
We took our Corgi dog with us too and she liked being in the sun too. However, the wind was blowing about 11 miles an hour and I realized my baseball cap might blow off my head in the gusty winds so I left my hat in the car.
In Addition to Antique stores there are places like a Nice Ice Cream Shop and Daisy's Bar which I think said they do Line Dancing there once a week some day there.
Also, in San Juan Batista there is Mission San Juan Bautista so the town is very Catholic because of this.
I saw a group of young men (10 to 17 years old) with a priest and T-shirts that said something like "Glory Be to God!" or something like that that were blue walking around the town with the priest who wore a similar t-shirt.
Also, near the mission is an Antique Stables and a blacksmith shop. So, since I didn't get out of my car there to go inside I wasn't sure if it was two historical places that they kept for tourists or whether the stables and Blacksmith shop are still in use or just in use periodically as a sort of tourist draw.
I thought it quaint that Daisy's Bar in town also did Line Dancing (cowboy style) because this is ranching country so both San Juan Bautista and Hollister or sort of ranching and farming towns just off 101.
San Juan Batista is just off 101 and Hollister is about 11 miles to the East of Hollister there in Central California.
If you are interested in Line Dancing or Live Entertainment here is more on Daisy's Bar in San Juan Bautista:
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