“It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.” – Ferris Bueller talking about a Ferrari in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Something San Jose has a lot more of these days is exotic sports cars. You can even rent them. If you have a chance to cruise around with a friend in a Ferrari, I highly recommend it. There are lots of types of experiences in this world. I like many of them and sometimes squishing them together. So, for example: start in San Jose, take an adventure to the coast, a cup of coffee, some beautiful nature, great conversation with a friend, and wrap up the curvy road sways with the art- visual/tactile/mechanical/aural- of a Ferrari. That’s a pretty fantastic day’s experience.
These roads are beautiful in any vehicle, really.Where the music comes from; you can see the twin-turbo V-8 out the back window.The great Pacific Ocean along Highway 1 at Pescadero State Beach.Could a coffee shop counter be any more happy?Two guys getting coffee on the coast as seen in the espresso machine’s reflection.
The bee’s wings so fast my camera could not catch them.
Chitactac-Adams county park is a remarkable place. For hundreds of years this was the home of Native peoples. We can say that about all of California. But here, you can touch…
Those, in the picture above, are mortars ground into the rock from hundreds of years ago, made by the people who lived here along the Uvas Creek, grinding food from the land around… and you can touch them! There are many of them and it is wonderful to imagine the many hours of their use, the people who were here before in the same space as I occupy now, leaning over these bowls in the rock, and touching history.
On the annual family day, you can do crafts, watch a Native American ceremony, play traditional games, and learn. My children loved making jewelry from pine nuts that they turned into beads by grinding off the two sides and cleaning out the hole through the center.
It is a beautiful place with so much nature to look at. Some of the branches are amazing, like lightning bolts, jerking horizontally through the air above. I try, but the pictures below don’t do the lightening branches justice, try and marvel at them in person if you get the chance.
Hundreds of years with people living here along the river (the Chitactac part of the park name), nearly 100 years with an old school house (the Adams part of the park name), and then the last hundred years, until the recent fences to protect the petroglyphs went up, as a favorite jumping-off-into-the-river point for the local children. Remnants of the rope swing can still be seen, and adults can still be found who will talk of their youth and jumping off the big rock into the creek.
Do you remember when old cars use to have metal bumpers? Well, bumpers use to be chrome and I think the move to plastic painted bumpers, while aesthetically pleasing, accounts for the comparably low turnout of colorful bumper stickers on the road these days. My hypothesis is that humans love color and can’t help but try to fill it in where they can. And a plain chrome bumper is practically begging for a splash of color. When I was growing up in San Jose, one of the bumper stickers I would notice often was the bright yellow “The Mystery Spot” bumper sticker. I still see them from time to time, some brave souls sticking them to their painted bumpers and some crafty drivers affixing them like band-aids to their bumper’s scratches. More often these days, bumper stickers of all colors find themselves on the chrome like covers of laptops.. Laptops- the chrome bumpers of today, begging for a splash of color. Just realized that, hmm.
Well, despite seeing all those stickers for years and talking to friends who had been there, I had never, until a few days ago, actually gone to The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz.
I am sooo glad that I finally went!
Okay, in simplest form, what you are overtly going to see at The Mystery Spot is a single small wooden building on a hill. I was made to understood from friends over the years that the deal with this place is supposed to be about some crazy energy vortex causing water to flow uphill and other weird things. And, of course, I knew it was some kind of trick optical illusion. But it was so much more than that. It would have to be for this pace to be an actual California Historical Landmark, Landmark #1055.
(Pretty flowers and giant trees surround as you wait for your tour to begin at The Mystery Spot.)
First impression upon arriving? Wow, these are friendly people. Really. The guy in the parking lot was the happiest and friendliest parking lot guide I could imagine, magnified by approximately 300%. As if I ever imagined there was such a job as a parking lot guide welcoming me as I drove passed and pointing out an open spot in the free parking lot with a smile. Then, as we walked into the place, we were greeted by… well, a greeter, with three badges declaring “Greeter” on his shirt and the friendliest of demeanors. Another guy sweeping up paused to chat and make me laugh and talk to my kids. What kind of happy-crazy-town is this?
Second impression? It only costs $8 to go in! What? I can not believe that a destination type place near us could only cost $8 to get into in the year 2019. Yes, I am about to see a small sideways wooden building and so charging $8 is theoretically about right when you consider restrooms, etc. provided out in the forest…but I assumed that nothing with such name recognition would have a reasonable cost. Shocked, is what I was! I mean, it costs $6 to park in most of our County Parks and they don’t have greeters walking around to make you smile. I’m not complaining, I love our County Parks and happily buy my annual parking pass every year. It’s just that I was impressed and surprised that any destination type visit could have a cost that has become less than most people would spend for a fast food meal.
Eventually, it was our turn for the tour. How would they do it, I wondered. Serious, perhaps, and explain the warp zone vortex what-cha-ma-call-it like a crazy cult follower? Or with a surly attitude, like a minimum-wage-paid teen in need of the money who knows they are supposed to sell some wacky story to a bunch of adults who should know better? Critically, maybe, like a scientist who drank the kool-aid? Well, it was none of the above. I should have known better after seeing so many friendly employees and the fact that this place has been around since decades before I was born.
The tour guide was young but there was no hint of a surly attitude or kool-aid induced craziness. No, he was simply funny! It turned out to be a performance after all and one that was welcomed and entertaining. How long did it take this place to perfect this art? The whole presentation was perfect. Perfectly funny with silly jokes, perfectly presented with quasi-possible story telling, and still perfectly sane in its silly delivery. I was again impressed.
And then, while I continued to just enjoy the show and wondered at the optical illusions before me, it was our turn to spend some time in the cabin. And that is when I experienced the best $8 worth of awesome I could have imagined. I became giddy like a child inside. How in the world could an illusion create so real a visceral response in me? It was AMAZING! I was consciously walking in an optical illusion and happily continued to to have my senses and rational mind boggled by the experience in a tug-of-war of sensory befuddlement and mental tennis. Even when I utilized all of my wits to see the reality as I was in it, it would only take seconds without my full attention before my mind was tricked again into feeling and behaving as though I were in a warped world. This caused me to alternate between wanting to fall over, wanting to sit in a dizzy spell, sometimes feeling my stomach twist in a dangerously vomit threatening way, and wanting to laugh with joy. All of this was internally. Externally, I was just trying to hold my self together as I walked in that building. It was the silliest and coolest thing I have done in a long time. It was like the thrill of a new toy as a child mixed with the bafflement of a great card trick done before your eyes mixed with the fun of being at a cool dress up party while spinning on an amusement ride. Am I over selling this experience? I don’t think so. If you go to The Mystery Spot and aren’t physically effected by the leaning shack then I am certain scientists will be able to study you for some kind of rare genetic mutation affecting equilibrium. And if you don’t happily let your guard down to enjoy the tour while being charmed by the friendly shtick of the tour guide, than I don’t know what could please you. And if all of that does not sound amazing for the price of one fancy coffee drink, than I don’t know how to impress you.
(Guests on the tour, standing in the tilted building.)
I realized the fun of this place was neither about being duped nor figuring it all out, because what you were able to understand did not matter. For me, it was the fun of being amazed at how my body dealt with the optical and physical illusion.
My final assessment of The Mystery Spot? It is a seemingly magical giddy-inducing-silly-amuzement-ride-lke-experience created from subtle performance and illusions so good you will happily throw your mind into it to be boggled, all for the price of a fancy coffee drink.
It was simply wonderful to feel this childish fun.
From the northern tip of San Jose, or nearly anywhere with a view of the south San Francisco Bay, you can look to the south east shore that is Newark and see a white mound. That white mound, if you go to Newark for a visit, is a giant mountain of salt!
Notice the telephone poles on the left of the above photo. Or the railroad cars on the right. That is a big mountain of salt. It gets bigger or smaller as the harvesting cycles through. It is the only solar evaporative salt production facility in the U.S., producing 500,000 tons of sea salt each year!
The history of salt collection on the San Francisco Bay goes back hundreds of years with the Ohlone Native Americans collecting salt along the bay shore. Commercial production began in 1854 during the gold rush. Water is pumped or flows from one evaporation pond in the bay to the next, taking 3 to 5 years (depending on the source read) and traveling miles through the pond network before the water has evaporated enough; concentrating the salt in the final pond for harvesting, cleaning, and packaging on the shore of Newark.
It’s amazing to see so much salt! My kids are as surprised as I that a product acquired by evaporating water out is then washed in water as part of the cleaning process without washing it all away. It’s interesting to imagine the long journey these salt molecules make out there, suspended in ocean and bay water for countless years, bonding and crystalizing with their neighbors, being piled up so high, cleaned and packaged for anyone to buy at a local grocery store. Salt is so much more interesting to taste when you imagine where its been all these years.
Today, much of the former salt pond area of the bay is part of a marshland restoration project to bring back the natural habitats while keeping a smaller area for salt harvesting. Modern efficiency has increased production with a smaller footprint. We are still in the early years so it will be interesting to see the continued changes along the bay in the years to come.
Below is a photo from northern San Jose in Alviso where you can see the giant salt mountain in the center across the bay.
Lick Observatory, that white bump visible to the east of us in San Jose, sits atop the highest mountain top in our area, Mt Hamilton. The observatory is an orienting landmark, an important scientific observatory, a monument in history, and a great place to visit.
I am drawn to this place. It seems so distant, high on that mountain, but then only takes about an hour to get to. And from another perspective, it seems incredible that we can see anything from San Jose that takes an hour to drive to. The path to get there is 25 twisty miles by road and 4,209 ft above sea level (a little more than the Yosemite Valley), compared to San Jose’s 49 feet above sea level. Granted, San Jose has an altitude range from -13 feet to 2,125 feet. The road, depending on the source, has 360 or 365 turns on the way to the top. I have never counted the turns, myself.
Scientifically, this is a significant research facility as part of the University of California. With at least nine telescopes in operation, Lick Observatory has become the premier facility in discovering new planets. In fact, it confirmed the first extrasolar planet in 1995. The 36 inch refracting telescope, its first and one that you can still visit today, was the largest in the world when constructed in 1888. Short tours are given of the telescope during open business hours. I go on this tour every time I visit which means I have been on this tour approximately 20 times. It never gets old and each time the presenter gives the presentation differently, with different degrees of history and different points of fact. A visit, to me, is an exercise in anticipation of the view, then greeting the 130 year old telescope, and then listening to how the presentation will go differently from all the times I have heard it before. It’s not a bad ritual. Some presentations are far richer and I treasure those like a delicious desert. On two, just two, occasions the presenter raised the elevating floor of the telescope room and let us peer at the grave stone for James Lick, buried beneath the giant telescope. With 130 year old gearing, it is understandable why they nearly never raise the floor during the multiple presentations given most days of the week. And so, I remember those two times as quite special. Some presenters like to share lots about the history, some share a soap opera like account of the life of James Lick, and others know a few facts about the telescope. No mater what, it is wonderful to stare at this 130 year old beautiful art-meets-science technology. Good stuff for the imagination and spirit. There are other telescopes to see as well, a gift shop, and several great spots to have a picnic lunch. And the views! Worth seeing many times over and in different weather conditions. The road is a bit scary, winding, narrow, and precarious feeling at times. Getting past that by focusing all of my attention on the road while driving and saving sight seeing for safe stopping points is the only was I manage to make the trip so often. Don’t forget to drive carefully for you own safety by ignoring the views until you stop, but also to be aware and cautious of the many bicycle riders who make this journey each day. I don’t know how humans can do this on a bicycle and it is amazing that so many do this so casually as if they don’t each deserve a standing ovation after the completion of such a challenge.
As a bit of history, Lick Observatory certainly has its place, especially in connection to James Lick who paid for its construction. James Lick has the kind of life primed for a good story teller. A few examples of facts a good story teller would get to weave in include: leaving the country to make his fortune; actually making that fortune; multiple journeys across nations; a child born during a youthful romance; bringing chocolate to the US to sell and then writing his friend, Ghirardelli, of the successful sale and urging him to locate in California to sell more, yes- that Ghirardelli; building the largest mill on the west coast; building the largest telescope in the world; funding numerous public projects in the San Jose and San Francisco area; becoming the richest person in California, owning most of the area around Lake Tahoe, all of Catalina Island, and lots of property in the San Jose area; as well as being buried under one of the neatest monuments ever used as part of a head stone, the giant 36 inch refracting telescope. That’s a lot to work with and that’s not even everything.
It is amazing to think about the innovation, science, and development that has occurred in our area over the years. So much of that is due to decisions that created opportunities for people to share ideas with one another, to spark new ideas, and provide space for their development. So much of this special opportunity comes from people making decisions like James Lick building the worlds largest telescope in his world. That decision has kept thinkers in our area and brought visiting thinkers to our parts. What would San Jose be like if James Lick never began this observatory project in 1876, when the U.S. was just 100 years old? What if others like him had not made similar decisions? What if Leyland and Jane Stanford never built their University in honor of their son who died of typhoid, or if Jane Stanford had not required that students of various backgrounds as well as women be admitted, or if so many inspired thinkers of all kinds had not a welcoming place to talk with others and to try new things? So much of our good fortune today is the result of decisions made long ago, both by people remembered in books and on the internet, and so many others who just lived good lives. I wonder what decisions we are making today, and I hope there are many, that will have proven so powerful 100 years from now.
(130 year old key hole in a wooden cabinet in Lick Observatory.)
