Today I drove from Winter to Summer, and back

My story from Thursday 9/27/12

I had a team lunch today at noon. My morning started early, with a few important meetings back to back, and some busy work in between, i.e., multi-tasking. Around 11 AM I packed my computer, put on a T-shirt, pants and a denim jacket, and jumped in my car. The dense fog felt like drizzle, and since I didn't eat anything except for my morning coffee, I was chilled to the bones, so I turned on my heater.

In a rush, I punched the address into my GPS on the iPad - I can't go anywhere without my GPS. Here were the directions.

Start driving on highway 1 south bound for 8 miles. I drove by pumpkin and brussels sprouts farms, some beaches and coastal restaurants.

Turn left onto CA 92 east bound and drive for 12 miles. I drove on a winding road, passing by nurseries and flower fields.

Exit to highway 280 south bound and drive for 28 miles. I drove by the beautiful reservoir and mountains. The weather became sunnier and sunnier the further south I went, and the hills changed from green to brown. Somewhere around there I turned off my heater.

Exit on highway 85 south bound and drive for 21 miles. There was nothing significant here, just office buildings and residential areas connecting various shopping malls.


Exit on highway 101 south bound. Guess what, pumpkin and vegetable farms on both sides of the road.

I drove pass the Silicon Valley Lab IBM campus, which was the furthest I went in this part of the neighborhood and on this direction. As I drove into another narrowed two lane winding country road, up the hill, I drove into the unknown.

I started to doubt the directions, but as I already drove over 50 miles to here, there was no turning back without putting some food into my stomach.

Following the GPS direction, I drove up the hill for 1.5 miles, and finally I saw a field of green. In the middle there was a ranch style building, where I found a parking lot. I parked and walked out of the car to find the piping high 80 degree temperature. At around 12:20, I found my group of 15 sitting at the patio facing the golf course under 2 big umbrellas.

Two hours later, we left the restaurant. The inside of my car felt like an oven, so I rolled down all the windows, and sett up my GPS. I drove the same way back. When I saw the thick fog rolling down the mountains around Crystal Spring Reservoir, I knew I was almost home.