We boondocked at a Cracker Barrel in Santa Maria last night and woke to the noise of Waste Management emptying trash bins this morning.
Note to self: check for trash bin proximity before hunkering down for the night.😑
As we began to get ready for the day it started to rain so we fixed a cup of joe and relaxed 🧘♀️enjoying our warm morning brew while waiting for the clouds to pass.
We hit the road about 9 a.m. heading Northbound on Highway 101. We would usually take the coastal route, PCH, when heading North but this time we opted to take the 101 to Sacramento and take in some different “inland” sights.
From the I-5, near the famed Madonna Inn, we saw a drive-in movie theater (that is a rare sight these days.)
There were many familiar sights as we drove leisurely up the road; the familiar cow pastures, hills, and empty fields that were so lush and green for miles and miles. The shades of green varied from lime green to a deep forest green, really beautiful.
Rolling hills sprinkled with cows
We drove through San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, King City and Salinas before we hopped on to Highway 152 to cut across and continue our journey on Interstate 5.
We passed San Luis Reservoir whose water level was surprisingly low. 😣 Apparently all the rain and snow we got earlier this year wasn’t enough to replenish our reservoirs.
As we traveled further North we saw vinyards, orange groves, strawberry fields, cabbage and lettuce fields. It was really a nice drive. We saw a sign that said “pimento farm” but I didn’t see it.
The closer we got to Sacramento we began to see dairy farms, cattle ranches and fields of goat and sheep – we had never seen fields of goat and sheep before.
Craig wanted to pay a visit to Old Sacramento to stop by Danny’s Mini Donuts for some fresh, made to order donuts, but he was met with disappointment; they were closed.😣🍩 No donuts for Craig.
Our last stop for the day was to see the California State Capitol.
It was about time to wrap up our day, so we reached out to our friends in Penn Valley – turns out we were closer to them than we thought. On to Penn Valley…🚙💨
Road Trippin' with the Green's 