Did you know that San Jose is now the third largest city in California? It's larger than San Francisco and only surpassed in population by Los Angeles and San Diego.
That came as a real surprise to me, but after running around San Jose this morning meeting with countless people, I can truly believe it.
Of course, Pescadero, California might be perhaps the third smallest city in California (or at least it feels that way).
We have a whole slew of meetings going on at a resort/lodge just outside of this tiny (and I do mean tiny) little town. I'll talk more about the resort tomorrow, but I thought it would do the world good to visit the sites of Pescadero.
What is "Made in Pescadero" you ask? Goodness knows one of my colleagues barged in the store to ask, but honestly, nobody seemed to know. Mostly it appeared to be a barber shop -- but hey, that's just Pescadero, I guess.
This tiny community is over an hour south of San Francisco on the famous Pacific Coast Highway. It is so tiny that they don't bother to actually name their stores -- they just put up a sign telling you what it is they do.
For instance, here's their version of a grocery store, appropriately named...
Then there's a lovely little art gallery, named thusly...
Of course, no visit to Pescadero would be complete without a stop at the "historic" Duarte's Tavern. It's historic because 100 years ago, there were two restaurants in Pescadero. A century later, there is only one restaurant in town.
And yes, you guessed it, it's Duarte's.
While some might challenge the "historic" designation of Duarte's, nobody would question me if I declared their menu "unique."
Consider this wonderful slice of pie for which they're known...
It was a truly delicious piece of Olallieberry Pie.
Honestly, when I heard of it's name, I thought it was some sort of joke tied to the famous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- remember Willie Wonka's famous Snozzberry?
Well, it appears that this berry is an actual thing. Click on Olallieberry to learn more about this cross between a Youngberry and a Loganberry.
That was odd enough, but there is also an unbelievable fascination with artichokes in Pecadero.
At Duarte's you can buy an artichoke omelet. Artichoke ravioli. Artichoke lasagna. They even offer deep friend artichoke. You name, it and they probably can make it with artichoke.
Here is Stacey Wedding from our staff and Melinda Gallegos of the Tang Foundation partaking of cream of artichoke soup...
Of course, the most unnerving part of Pescadero's sole restuarant is the sign we noticed outside the front window on the way out the door...
Ugh.
Perhaps fish in the Pescadero area of the Pacific Ocean like artichokes.
But then again, it was worth the visit to Pescadero if only for this remarkable view of the big beautiful Pacific Ocean...
It's February and there we were standing on the beach! This is the way winter should be.
(Tomorrow, a view of Costanado)
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