Highway 101

We were reluctant to leave San Francisco and the beautiful Fairmont hotel but adventures awaited down south. You can’t get anywhere in the States if you don’t have a car and it was easily arranged at the hotel. All Hertz had left was an Audi convertible which was tempting, but we settled for an anonymous Hyundai from Budget. Our first stop off highway 101 was an outlet center in a town called Gilroy. After a year of not being able to find clothes to fit him in Japan, David certainly made up for lost time. We spent so long in Gilroy that when we arrived at stop 3 on our Vertigo tour (the San Juan Bautista mission), it was closed. We recognized it easily but hadn’t realized that the surrounding countryside would be so beautiful. This part of California is very green, with rolling hills and grazing cattle.

Gilroy Premium Outlets : http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=23


San Juan Bautista mission: http://www.san-juan-bautista.ca.us/