St. Anthony's Cemetery

Last time we went to Pescadero, we didn't stumble upon this pioneer cemetery until it was almost dark.  So this time I made sure that we went over to check it out with enough daylight left to take photos.  It's a fascinating place, with so many very old tombstones and grave markers, some of them tumbling down and crumbling, others in (strangely) almost perfect condition.

{Founded in 1856.}

{Fallen.}

{Frankie Estes.}

{The Good Family.}

{Fred Good, age 7.}

{From the Goulson plot.}

Goat Cheese, Please

I doubt I'll ever tire of driving south on Highway 1, with the Pacific to my right and rolling hills to my left.  It always amazes me how quickly the metropolis that is San Francisco and her surrounding cities turns to countryside, pastureland, and beaches.  Every day I thank my lucky stars that I get to live in this beautiful state, but anytime I'm on Highway 1 my gratitude increases exponentially.

We found ourselves on the 1 again this weekend, headed to Pescadero for the dedication of a new Bookmobile (nerdiest excuse for a day trip ever!).  Cole wanted to be there for work reasons and she invited (bribed) me to come along, with promises of goat cheese from Harley Farms, idyllic landscapes to photograph, and a meal at the historic Duarte's Tavern (in operation since the late 1800s and still going strong).

Harley Farms was one of our first stops.  It was our second trip to the farm, and not only did we get to see big goats and baby goats, a wedding was about to get started in the garden!  This would be a perfect place to get hitched--green rolling hills, gardens, an old farmhouse.

 {The garden set up for the wedding.}

{The edible flowers that are used with some of the goat cheese.}

 {Kids!}

 {Some of the cheese they sell.  The flowers on the buttons above are from the edible flowers garden.}

During this visit, we picked up some goat milk ricotta, which is delicious.  Cole turned out tasty tuna melts with the ricotta this weekend--white albacore tuna mixed with balsamic vinegar and capers on homemade bread, topped with goat milk ricotta.  I think Cole has officially turned into a foodie.

In a few months I'm planning to lobby to return to Harley Farms.  Still need to try their (goat milk) fudge!

I still need to try their fudge...guess we'll need to go back!

Pescadero + Harley Farms

After leaving Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon, we took our time driving back up the 1 to San Francisco.  To our left was the ocean, getting brighter and brighter as the sun lowered in the sky.  To the right, lots of little towns and roadside stands beckoned.

Our first stop was at Pie Ranch, a farm founded to give inner city kids a place to experience agriculture.  I had read about Pie Ranch in connection with Mission Pie, an amazing little pie shop in the Mission in San Francisco.  Mission Pie gets some of its produce from Pie Ranch and in return, Pie Ranch sells Mission Pie-made pies.  Their pies and baked goods looked delectable.

After chatting with the salesgirl and picking out some produce, we hit the road again.  The fact that we left Pie Ranch with a bunch of kale, a basket of strawberries, and three winter squash is a testament to our willpower.

{A shop in Pescadero}

Our next stop, a few miles up the road, was Pescadero, a little town in the hills off Highway 1.  We walked around the main street, which is tiny and boasts a disproportiate amount of antique stores and galleries. 

I spied what looked like an old cemetery way down at the end of this street, so we drove over to check it out.  On the way, however, Cole was distracted by a big wooden cutout of a little girl with a goat.  We'd heard that there was a goat farm in these parts, so we decided to follow the signs.  They led us to Harley Farms, a restored 1910 goat dairy that sells a variety of goat-derived products:  cheese, milk, lotion and soap, and even fudge!

The farm and all of its buildings were really beautiful.  We got a little tub of Pumpkin Fromage (kind of a soft goat cheese spread) as well as an apricot pistachio goat cheese button.  I would really love to go to one of their farm dinners someday--but at $150 a head, it's, uh, a bit hard to justify.

{View of the farm from the cheese shop}

Before leaving Pescadero, we stopped at the old cemetery I'd seen from the road.  It was started in the 1860s as a Catholic cemetery and most of the tombstones and gravemarkers looked ancient.  If the sun hadn't been almost down, I would have taken a lot of pictures of the crazily-tilting tombstones.  Here's one that Cole took out the window of a weather-worn wooden marker.

The sunset was totally beautiful that night as we drove home.  A perfect ending to our trip.