Sun and blue skies that stretch on and on...

Pacifica, CA  to  Fresno, CA (for genealogy research)

We are zig-zagging our way down the state of California. 

We took highway 152 from Gilroy (garlic capital of the US) to highway 99 which took us on down to Fresno.  The initial drive out of Gilroy is marked on the map as a scenic route, and were treated to lovely rolling hills with scattered trees followed by the San Luis Reservoir.  It was beautiful.  It's always nice to be off the interstate highways whenever possible.  You see so much more and the driving is much less stressful.

After we crossed I5 we were in the San Joaquin Valley, the source of much of our food in the US.  We passed acres and acres of grapes, fruit and nut trees and assorted vegetables.  I actually thought that every acre in the valley would be under cultivation but, at least where we were driving, it was not.  That was a pleasant surprise.  As our population continues to grow they're going to need more land to cultivate.  The only problem will be water.  They've had a 3 year drought here and many of the large trees show evidence of the lack of water.

Fruit or Nut trees
(Why don't they put a label up that tells motorists what they are growing?)

Grapes

Fresno is the home of Fresno Pacific University, a Mennonite University with an extensive archive of Mennonite materials.  To a genealogist with Mennonite ancestors that's like catnip to a cat.  Of course we arrived on the Friday before Easter (Good Friday) so we had to wait until Monday to get into the archive. 

Did a little sightseeing which included the Forestiere Underground Gardens.  It's an amazing place.  One man worked 40 years to dig it out of the hardpan on the 80 acres he bought when he came to California.  He had wanted to grow citrus trees like back home in Sicily but was swindled on the land he bought.  He also didn't like the intense heat of the area so he started digging a place to live where it would be cooler.  He was the original recycler - using the hardpan as bricklike building material and the foot of good soil which covered it to fill the various "pots" where he planted his fruit trees and vines.  Only a small portion of the area he dug out is open but even that is pretty extensive.



Courtyard



Bedroom



Another courtyard with citrus fruit trees and grapes.



Hallway



Part of the kitchen

bathroom

Our campground in Fresno was lovely and shady, well kept up, with lots of space between rigs.  It's part of a mobile home park and it really couldn't be nicer.  We were especially grateful for the shade because it was hot there.

This street goes by the name Chateau Fresno Ave. but
it's way west of town and there's no Chateau in site!!!
We wondered who planted all these trees and for what? 
Perhaps someone's big dream just never came true.