“Just because you are happy it does not mean that the day is perfect but that you have looked beyond its imperfections.”
—Bob Marley
Bill Rothenberg, Jimi Hunter, his wonderful wife Jennifer and I drove up to Half Moon Day in two cars recently, parked near the Mill Rose Bed and Breakfast and unhitched our bikes. Bill treated us to iced coffee to go from the Cafe Society before beginning our ride.
We began our adventure with a seven mile cruise on a reasonably wide shoulder lane on Highway 1, before crossing the island divide on Tunitas Creek Road for our backcountry ride. We coasted by old ranches, abundant farmland before stopping at The Bike Hut at Potrero Nuevo, a 300-acre farm that Jimi was raving about. The red hut operates on the honor-system, and sells snacks, beverages, bike tools, and picnic tables. Nothing has ever been taken from the store. Regrettably it was closed (Probably due to the pandemic), but this didn’t stop Jimi from making it memorable by casting his bike aside and clowning around by hopping on an old child-size vintage Schwinn bike in front of the store.
Tunitas Creek Road is an 11-mile, one-lane road beginning at the ocean, meanders through small farms and ranches and climbs a slow and challenging 2,000 feet with switchbacks through a beautiful, lush redwood forest. This is considered to be one of the best biking roads in the Bay Area. There were no cars in sight. At one point while lagging behind, taking it all in, I decided to stop and listen to the silence. After reaching the highest altitude the ride dramatically shifts from a slow ascent to a dramatically fast, and busy downhill adrenalin rush.
From here we turned onto Lobitos Creek Road. The canopy of redwood forest provided us with shade and scenic ambiance.
I stopped to take some photos of horses corralled on some local ranches for our granddaughter Lyla who loves horses. When she sees a horse, she loves to phonetically sound out the utterances horses make: "NAY!"
We also visited Arata’s Pumpkin Farm on Verde Road, established in 1932, and home to the two-acre World Famous Minotaur’s Labyrinth Hay Maze, six-acre corn field and Pumpkin. Pony rides, petting zoo, haunted house. Do to the pandemic it has limited hours. I took a photo of the big bronze horse sculpture on its hind legs with Jennifer and Bill in the foreground.
On the way back, we drove through Cowell Ranch Beach which includes the Half Moon Bay Coastal Trail, a safe and scenic way to explore the coast. Half Moon Bay Coastal Ride is part of Half Moon Bay State Beach. We continued on passed the Ritz Carlton, and made our way to downtown Half Moon Bay and enjoyed a socially distanced lunch at the Cantina in the courtyard at the historic San Benito House in the heart of Main Street. We were serenaded by a musician and singer while we ate.
I enjoyed my favorite “Baha” Fish Tacos (locally caught cod in Negra Modelo beer batter with cilantro, cabbage, red onion, lime crema, guacamole, and roasted tomato salsa).
