Silicon Valley 111: La Honda and Woodside

The sun only penetrates in patches on the Heritage Grove Trail. 

Benjamin is visiting us this weekend, so he and I took a road trip along switchback roads to La Honda, a "census designated place" (CDP), population 900 or so, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Ben was surprised such wilderness existed just 25 miles from Silicon Valley.  There are houses built at the bottom of ravines along the way, but flat land is hard to come by here, and the dominant feature are miles of coastal redwoods.  We burned off our In-N-Out Burgers on two trail loops at the Heritage Grove Trail, one quite steep. 

Most of the redwoods were scheduled to be logged, like this one, before becoming a park. 

After working up a sweat, we thought we'd get a drink at La Honda's famous watering hole, Apple Jack's, a bar housed in a 1879 blacksmith shop, that was a hangout for Ken Kesey, Neal Cassidy, Allen Ginsberg, and other beatniks.  Now it's closed.  We stopped to take a look, and happened on the bartender who had also stopped by.  He said he was one of the bartenders, then corrected himself, and said he was the last bartender.  Apparently, they'd laid off the other bartenders, due to Covid-19.  But they did hope to reopen soon.

Apple Jack's roadside bar, built 1879.  Due to reopen soon. 

So we continued on to Woodside, another CDP in the curve of the road.  Fortunately, Alice's Restaurant was open for business.  This is a hangout for bikers and car enthusiasts.  It also has a lot of outdoor seating, useful during a pandemic.  I ordered boysenberry pie; Ben ordered mud pie. They had Alice Restaurant masks for sale, but I declined that purchase.  We sat out back, amid picnic tables, with a view of a pond and marsh.

Alice's Restaurant, Woodside, with socially distanced line out front.

Ben used some of his calories burned on the trial toward the Mud Pie, which was ginormous.  I highly recommend Alice's Restaurant (not to be confused with Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant), should you be in this neck of the wilderness.

Enough mud pie for a small army. 

#23 and #105 in 111 Places in Silicon Valley That You Must Not Miss.