Reply #3: I grew up in Silicon Valley. It was FILLED with orchards... [View All]

[Sugarbleus]

"Blossom Hill Rd" was named because it rises just enough over the valley so that tours were given to enjoy the MASSES of blossoms each spring. I lived near downtown San Jose in an OLD residential district. There weren't even any malls yet. It was like American Graffiti era where folks acutally shopped down town and on the weekend, we youngin's cruised the main on $.50 a gal of gas. :)

Our family used to take drives on weekends to stop at makeshift fruit stands near these orchards to pick up THEE best tasting fruit you'd ever want to put into your mouth--cherries, apricots, oranges, nuts, plums, peaches, apples etc.. My parents worked in Canneries; there were serveral. A trip down hwy 1 took us to Morgan Hill and Gilroy (Garlic Capitol) where we'd pick up a batch of freshly roasted Almonds etc.

You could drive for MILES in any direction and not find the end to the orchards until you arrived near, say San Francisco.

There were developments here and there but not anything like it is today. Today, it's wall to wall CITY. Gone are the orchards. They and canneries moved to the San Joaquin Valley (Big Valley) to make room for COMPUTER related industries.

Now I live near Steinbeck country (Santa Cruz). Not too much change here; still a few canneries left, a lot of farming still going on (salad bowl and all that). Some canneries have gone to Mexico and elsewhere. But the country side has been slow to over develope; due in part to city planners and the enviro movement. Salinas has boomed though, I don't like Salinas...Monterey is still beautiful and there's been a concerted effort to keep the bay clean/made into a marine sanctuary.

My adopted town has seen a boom in housing. One day theres a field, next day it's covered in squeeze box over priced homes. Still, there IS LOTS of area north, east, and south of us that is open and pristine. The coast north and south of here is still Very, very beautiful.