As usual we started in Rainbow’s End for our iced caffeinated drinks and a chat with Olga in which we learned that white ceramic bunnies are a more effective mountain lion lure than dead chickens. Olga even had photographic proof, showing a rather bewildered mountain lion mouthing a ceramic bunny’s head.
When we stopped for street tacos in Carmel Valley, I found a poster advertising a race scheduled for the day I was born. Cyndi was unimpressed but did enjoy the tacos. Heading further up the valley, we turned towards the Los Padres dam where we encountered fisherman with several 12” brown trout and a nice story of a 2’ monster that got away. As Cyndi was nursing her blistering feet, we saw that Madrone berries come in at least two colors: red and orange. Like Manzanita, Madrone berries can be eaten, tho people seldom try more than one.Below Los Padres dam is an ATT Earth Station, which is for sale and comes complete with a 92’ satellite dish, a 2,500 sq ft data center, two wells and a caretaker’s house. The realtor claims you could make a nice living leasing the property to secret government agencies that rely upon 1970’s technology. He even invoked the phrase “Google is interested” to legitimize the technical merits of the property.
This is tarantula mating season and several males were seen crossing the road in search of nooky. They move quickly when horny and chased by tourists in Hawaiian shirts. In the many wineries the grapevine leaves had generally turned yellow, tho there were some oranges and rusty reds as well. One winery had harlequin scarecrows. I saw no crows at that winery, so while it is plausible the gaily dressed scarecrows were effective, I observed no crows in any winery, so equally plausibly they where simply whimsy. 
As we entered Salinas Valley we saw many fields with very strange machines and many people harvesting cabbages, potatoes, strawberries and a large number of unidentified green things. Shortly after a quick stop at the Soledad Mission to admire the roses and use the facilities, we were surprised to find a large field of cultivated prickly pears. Prickly pears appear to take well to cultivation.On the way home we stopped at a few roadside stands and greeted our cats with armfuls of brussel sprouts, strawberries and artichokes. I think the cats would have preferred a ceramic bunny.
Lookie Here for a few more photos.