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[togo]

Thanks Richard. If we do it, it should be a bring your own food picking I guess. But it seems likely restaurants won't be reopening for sit down meals soon.  A park along summit maybe?

[togo]

Thanks, crissa. I'll check that out.

[togo]

Between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara? This quite far.

[Richard230]

Thanks Richard. If we do it, it should be a bring your own food picking I guess. But it seems likely restaurants won't be reopening for sit down meals soon.  A park along summit maybe?

Unfortunately, good luck finding any parks open in San Mateo County.  Every day they are closing more parks and parking lots in the county due to over crowding as the people who want to go for hikes get pushed from closed areas to the few that remain open.    What they are doing is to close vehicle parking lots and only allow visitors to walk into the park and open space areas, most of which have no parking allowed along the adjacent highways.

I plan to visit Alice's on Sunday morning and will ask the owners what their plans are and what is going on along Skyline Boulevard.

[Crissa]

Castle Rock wasn't on the closed list.  The more distant the park, the less likely it is to close.

Not that a gate would really stop a bike

-Crissa

[Richard230]

Castle Rock wasn't on the closed list.  The more distant the park, the less likely it is to close.

Not that a gate would really stop a bike

-Crissa

I heard yesterday that Castle Rock SP is now closed.  As usual, too many people flocked to the park and got too close to each other on the narrow trails.

And this morning, the news is that the Governor plans to deploy the state's National Guard to enforce state park closures - as if they have nothing better to do.   

The parking lots in and around Linda Mar State Beach in Pacifica are completely closed, resulting in the surfers parking in the  residential neighborhoods and walking to the beach with their surfboards.  Even Highway 1 is lined on both sides with temporary "no parking" signs.  If there is a paved public parking lot or highway anywhere near a state beach or park, barricades and no parking signs are springing up like mushrooms.

[DonTom]

I heard yesterday that Castle Rock SP is now closed.  As usual, too many people flocked to the park and got too close to each other on the narrow trails.

Here in Auburn, about two miles from here, there is a small lake that people fish in. Never more than around a dozen people, well spread out. But they closed it just a few days ago.

I think they are over-doing it a bit.


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Richard230]

I have a friend who wanted to go camping in Arizona, but he tells me that they have closed all of their state parks, too. Considering the low population per square mile of that state, he says it just doesn't make any sense. 

[Crissa]

Yeah, they really should have put the no-parking on shoulders and then halved the parking spots in each park, forced us to spread out.

But I suppose we can't be nice to those who can't afford to live next to a park.  it's always gotta be all or nothing.

-Crissa

[DonTom]

I have a friend who wanted to go camping in Arizona, but he tells me that they have closed all of their state parks, too. Considering the low population per square mile of that state, he says it just doesn't make any sense. 

It probably has more to do with money than anything else. They probably laid of many park workers.

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Richard230]

I had breakfast with a friend today who works for several local radio stations maintaining their transmitter equipment.  For some unknowable reason, a local county sheriff pulled him over on Friday while he was driving a company truck and asked him why he was driving around when he should have been sheltering at home.  Once he pulled out his Homeland Security letter stating that he was authorized to be on the road as he is maintaining critical communications infrastructure, the cop walked away without saying anything else.  This was a couple of days after the San Mateo County DA said that he would prosecute anyone not obeying the shelter in place regulations and 6' social distancing.  Surely they must have something better to do, especially with the courts closed and trying to do everything via the internet?

Anyway, I visited Alice's Restaurant today. I stuck to the back roads (just in case) and away from the freeways, which the cops are apparently patrolling in force. The Restaurat was pretty much deserted and only selling takeout meals. One of the owners was acting as the waiter and taking orders at the bottom of their stairs. The food is delivered on paper plates and wrapped in aluminum foil. Coffee is served in paper cups. It looks like they have increased their prices by about 10%, since two weeks ago when I was there last. Their dining room was closed but their parking lot was not.  Photo attached.

I might add that I drove down Highway 1 and every possible parking spot that would allow access to the beach was marked "no parking".  However, up along Skyline Boulevard I was surprised to see that the parking lot at Skaggs Point was still open, as were the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District parking lots, although they have closed their restrooms and no drinking water is available. 

[togo]

Tentative reschedule date, Sunday April 12.

Tentative reschedule date, Sunday May 3.

Meet up someplace near Alice's, restaurants may not have re-opened, so it may be a social-distancing brunch picnic.  Save the date and check back for details.

[Richard230]

Well crap!  San Mateo County has just ordered that travel to "nonessential" services, such as hiking areas and going for a joy ride can not exceed a distance of 5 miles. That wouldn't even get me to the city limits of Pacifica, much less to Alice's Restaurant. 

[Crissa]

I'm glad our order - extended to May 7th - isn't that severe.  Five miles wouldn't get me to Costco.

They're stationing rangers at the parks, who would let me charge 'if it were necessary for me to get to my destination', according to the one I ran into.  I wouldn't want to count on it, tho.

-Crissa

[DonTom]

Well crap!  San Mateo County has just ordered that travel to "nonessential" services, such as hiking areas and going for a joy ride can not exceed a distance of 5 miles. That wouldn't even get me to the city limits of Pacifica, much less to Alice's Restaurant. 

BTW, are the hiking areas in San Pedro Park (up Linda Mar Blvd) still open?  Is that  within your five mile range?  I used to hike there often, but the place is full of ticks! Places with lots of deer usually have lot of ticks.

-Don-  Auburn, CA (no such restrictions here in Placer County <yet>)