Pinnacles National Park

After a NYE trip to Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma, Peter and I decided to start 2019 with a visit to Pinnacles National Park on January 1st. We woke up early and made the 2 hour drive down to Pinnacles, a small park about 50 miles inland from the California coastline and parallel to Big-Sur National Park. On the way down, we stoped in Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world, for breakfast at an awesome spot called OD's Kitchen.

As a reminder, the start of the 2019 was highlighted politically by Trump's decision to suspend the Government and thus resulting in the closure of many Government run facilities across America. We were met by a sheriff at the entrance to the park who was turning visitors away. It looked like we were out of luck; but, we stopped to chat with the officer as other cars turned around and soon the "coast was clear" so to speak. Looking around as the last cars cleared the vicinity, he nodded us past his cone barrier. Without a word, Peter and I drove in and didn't look back. We had just gotten admitted to a completely closed National Park, pretty cool. We spent the day exploring an empty park, hiking the Condor-Gulch Loop Trail, and relaxing by the Bear Gulch reservoir. It felt like we had the park to ourselves, such a great start to the New Year.