Highway One North -- June 16, 2025

On Memorial Day, we went for a drive with our daughter and son-in-law. He loves driving down Highway One to Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, but he had never driven north on One in Marin and Sonoma Counties. The day started overcast, so there was not a backup at the turnoff from 101. I haven't been that way for years, but I remembered where to turn. 

We stopped at the Hog Island Oyster Company to poke around. We had lunch at a very busy tourist-trappy restaurant in Bolinas called the Fishetarian Fish Market. Good name. I enjoyed the fist tacos. 

I pointed out things related to the North Pacific Coast Railroad along the way. At Jenner, we turned on 116 to follow the Russian River. We stopped at Duncans Mills. I told them about the time that I went through town with my father and the limits sign said something like "Population 50."

We visited my mother-in-law in Rohnert Park and then went to Santa Rosa and visited the train station. We had dinner at the Cattleman's.

It was a long day, but we enjoyed it.

Highway One Closed -- January 9, 2017

When the alarm went off this morning, I tuned the radio to KCBS.  They said that Highway One North was closed at Reina del Mar because of mudslides.  I told my wife, who wasn't fully awake.  She jumped out of bed and got dressed rapidly.  She was supposed to open the before school care room.  The trip that usually takes 7-8 minutes took her one hour.  They were letting thirty cars through each way on the southbound lanes.  She said it was not a nice sensation driving the wrong way.  I worked from home.

Caltrans was still trying to clear the mud and keep it from flowing back onto the road during the evening commute.  

We had very heavy rain over the weekend. 

Caltrans Hates Pacifica -- August 4, 2015

Monday afternoon my wife called me at work and said that Highway One was blocked after Sharp Park.  It took her an hour to get through and people were driving crazily.  She saw a school bus make a U-turn at a freeway entrance. 

When I went home, it took over two hours to go from Manor to Vallemar.  The right lane southbound was coned off just after Sharp Park.  When I went by, a crew was pouring asphalt between Vallemar and Fassler. 

A poor guy in an ice cream truck took off his seat belt, grabbed a bottle of water and poured it over his radiator grille.  I took the opportunity to move to the left lane. 

There were no policemen or Highway Patrol officers directing traffic.  They could have helped at the merge and at Edgemar where people were trying to merge in from both sides of the road. 

The work finished late last night, in part because of an accident during the day and because the asphalt trucks couldn't get through the traffic. 

Later we learned that Caltrans notified the city of Pacifica about the work Monday night, after the lane had been closed all day.  Some idiot had misplaced the email.  Caltrans planned to do a northbound lane today.  Mayor Karen Ervin persuaded them not to do it. 

Career Day/Fire/Robbery -- January 28, 2015

It has been an exciting few days.  Monday morning the radio went off and the announcers on KCBS said that there was a four alarm grass fire in Pacifica.  They didn't say where except that it was near the home of one of the announcers.  Later they said it was in the canyon behind Rockaway Beach and that Terra Nova Boulevard was closed.  I decided to work from home.  My wife had to drive out to the beach in Linda Mar to get to Highway One.  The condos and homes up the hill were evacuated, but no homes were damaged. 

Tuesday morning the announcers on KCBS said thieves had driven an SVU through the front window of the Wells Fargo History Museum on Montgomery Street and made off with the gold nugget collection.  These jerks should remember:  Wells Fargo Never Forgets. 

Later on Tuesday I went to Saint Anthony-Immaculate Conception School in San Francisco for Career Day.  They sent us around in pairs.  My partner used to be a nanny.  Her talk about all the opportunities it opened up was very interesting.  First we spoke to 5th and 6th grades, then 4th, then K and 1st.  I adjusted my talk about Wells Fargo and IT for each group.  I didn't mention three-tier architecture to K and 1.  The kids asked good questions.  In K and 1 they all said what they wanted to be.  They mostly wanted to be police officers.  Later I told the policeman that he had been a big hit.  Someone mentioned that the fire department was coming later.  He said that then they would all want to be firefighters.