Farewell to Matthew…

Prior to our trip to Michigan, we took one last weekend drive with nephew Matt. We repeated a favorite trip from Matt’s visit last summer, and visited Pinnacles National Monument. This summer, we took Matt to the eastern entrance to Pinnacles. (The two sides are not connected by road.) The eastern side has many more caves and fun paths.

After visiting Pinnacles, we stopped in the small town of San Juan Bautista, home of one of the more famous Spanish Missions. (This one was featured in the Hitchcock movie Vertigo…although the movie’s legendary bell tower was added by Hitchcock, and not part of the real mission! The bell tower in the photo below is the real one, and not the one in the movie.) One highlight of San Juan Bautista was JJ’s Burgers, where I had to try the JJ’s famous Mexican hotdog…which is wrapped in bacon and covered with pico de gallo and jalapenos…YUM.