Day 10: We're here!

Dad (Ben) helping Owen open his presents

We arrived this afternoon in Santa Clara.  Little Owen has changed so much since I saw him over Christmas!!  So adorable!

Owen is studying his new toy

As I said:  adorable (and so smart!)

Video not working -- I'll get Ben and Katie to help.

We started out the day with a beautiful sunrise at the campground.  We came out after I told Vernon this will be an 'as you are' picture.  Vernon made fun of me when I did a couple of more shots after finger combing my hair--as you see it made a big difference.  Well the sunrise is beautiful anyway.

Lois -- check out this campground bathroom!!!  As we have discovered, all campground bathrooms are not created equal. 

Today we traveled on Interstate 5 in the San Joaquin Valley from Bakersfield to Santa Clara.  A comment on TripAdvisor regarding 'interesting things to see' on Interstate 5' was: "Interstate 5 is so boring".

Well, to each his own because I heard Vernon say "Wow, this is sooo interesting".  Interstate 5 is all about California agriculture.  We saw miles and miles (and miles) of fruit trees and vineyards in perfect rows, irrigated by reservoirs and aqueducts and ditches with siphoned water. 

Vernon recognized and marveled at some of the farming techniques such as planting ground cover crops between the rows of young trees to hold in the moisture in the ground.  The  orchards with mature trees didn't need ground cover because the trees were large enough to shade the ground.  It was really interesting.
Also, there were collections of beehives among the rows of blooming trees. 

There is a big controversy in California about using water supplies for farming.  We saw maybe a dozen or so big signs in the fields along the way that said things like:  "Does growing food waste water?"  and  "Congress created the Dust Bowl". ??Not sure what that one means.  Does anyone know?  Did they even have irrigation systems back then?

Fruit trees with an aqueduct in the foreground

After the flat agricultural land, we drove through the Diablo Mountains into San Jose/Santa Clara area

Day 10:  Bakersfield to Santa Clara -- 239 miles