San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area

On highway 152 on Pacheco Pass, a beautiful large reservoir greets you. Depending on the day and season, a great place to see the sunrise, star gaze, look for wild flowers, smell and enjoy nature, or just appreciate as you drive by. The water is pumped up to the reservoir from the central valley creeks below during the rainy season, and then gravity fed right back down to the central valley to water crops during the dry season.

Happy Place on 4th Street

Being introduced to this place this year pleased me beyond all expectations. If I found this place anywhere in any town on any road trip, I would have been so completely proud and happy with myself. So, to be taken here, right in San Jose, on 4th street, where I had never been… well, it blew me away.

4th Street Bowl Coffee Shop
Coffee Shop at 4th Street Bowl

First, I should say that I find Diners and Coffee Shops to be one of humanity’s special places. And, I love to enjoy them, to eat, drink coffee, and basque in the humanity and time within them.

This one, right in San Jose at 4th Street Bowl, is quite special. Let me share some of the beautiful highlights about this coffee shop. Plenty of energy with customers and staff. Lots of windows. A looooong counter and a bunch of booths. A big menu. A glass door and windows that connect and look into the bowling alley. The alley is not updated. There is a cocktail lounge, a pool hall, a few video games, and of course, the coffee shop, all connected to the alley. Despite the simplicity of my words, the reality is a poetry of place and presence. It is a block of time and a splash of nostalgia whipped with distraction and covered in coffee. It is a treasure.

Almaden Quicksilver Miner Museum

Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum

An interesting place. Also, once each summer they put on a “Play like a miner” event. Crafts, learning, gold panning for kids; its a good time to tour the museum in the historical Casa Grande mansion, as an adult or child, with so many extra activities and staff throughout the buildings and grounds. The displays and artifacts dealing with the historical mercury mining done in the area are intriguing.

Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum
Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum
Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum