I hadn’t planned on visiting the Santa Cruz degree confluence today, so I hadn’t planned the best route either. This was a fun confluence to visit; one of the world’s most popular, I believe!

Photo © Richard D. LeCour

I wandered around the general area by car until I stumbled upon the main entrance to DeLaveaga Park. I parked and walked a trail east. At one point I was within 215 feet of the confluence, close enough within the boundaries of the 100-meter minimum disntance to register the visit, but I was not satisfied with that. Looking up at the 215 feet I’d have to traverse, I decided that it might be better to look for another trail that would take me closer, so I kept walking further away.

At about 450 feet from the confluence, I found something that looked like a very steep and slippery trail, but probably was started due to erosion more than by footsteps. At the top I found another trail heading back towards the confluence. Following that, I soon came within 90 feet of the point. Much better!

At that point, I left the trail and hiked straight upwards. Imagine my surprise when I came within 25 feet of the confluence point and realized that there was another trail above me! Once I stood on the trail, I was only 15 feet off, so I stepped off trail once again and stood right at the confluence point. It only took seven minutes for me to maneuver myself into a position that my Garmin 76S read exactly spot on and get a picture of it at the same time.

Directions

Enter DeLaveaga Park on Branciforte Drive and park near the restrooms at the Maple Grove or Twisted Tree picnic areas. Just a few feet SSW of the restrooms is a small flight of wooden stairs leading slightly up the hill. Beyond that are dirt trails. At this point, there are three choices — left, right, and an insignificant path straight ahead to the right. Rather than meander aimlessly as I did, as the saying goes, take the path less traveled. That leads you up a hundred feet or so to another dirt trail at which point you go left. You can follow your GPS along that trail until you are within only ten to fifteen feet of the confluence!

Windows 95 Airline

The airport terminal is nice and colorful, with friendly stewards and stewardesses, and easy access to the plane. Getting through aiport security is a breeze; all passengers are allowed through to the gates without any screening. Once at the gate, passengers carry their seats out onto the tarmac, placing the chairs in the outline of a plane. They all sit down, flap their arms and make jet swooshing sounds as if they are flying. After the plane arrives, 6 months late, you have a completely uneventful takeoff… then, once in the air the plane blows up without any warning whatsoever.

Mac Airline

The stewards, stewardesses, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look exactly the same, act the same, and talk the same. All of them are mind-numbingly beautiful and grace the cover of many fashion and style magazines, and sometimes the centerfolds. Every time you ask questions about details of the flight, you are told you don’t need to know, don’t want to know, and would you please return to your seat and watch the movie, sir.

Linux Airline

Disgruntled employees of the other airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself. When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plane leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, “You had to do what with the seat?!”

If you want great Italian food at a reasonable price, you can’t go wrong with Pasta Pomodoro’s newest restaurant, located in San Jose’s Santana Row. I came early to avoid the lunch crowd, but the popular restaurant already had a small waiting list. Even so, I was seated very quickly.

The visit started out a bit rocky; the bruschetta was good, but not particularly memorable. The piccola, or small, size was the perfect portion for a lunch side ($2.95) and it was prepared the way it should be — the chilled Roma and basil mixture served on the side. The bread was lightly toasted with just the right amount of crunch but the tomatoes were disappointing. I expected farm-fresh taste, but instead received what seemed more like supermarket-chain-quality leftovers. Being too weak on the quintessential basil and garlic didn’t help matters.

The gemelli on the other hand was absolutely superb — grilled chicken and mushrooms over toothsome corkscrew pasta, mixed with roasted garlic in a sun-dried tomato cream sauce. The chicken was tender, the sauce rich but not overwhelming, and the flavor was outstanding. At only $7.95, the gemelli is a dish not to be missed. For lighter fare, the $9.95 special, shrimp scampi over linguine in a lemon and garlic white wine sauce, had just the right amount of flavor and spicy heat to kick up what is often a dull and lifeless dish. The buttery sauce seemed a bit messy and slightly greasy, but the ten large shrimp were sauteed to perfection in a world where shrimp is often overcooked, tough, and rubbery. Still hungry after all that? You can’t leave without trying the chocolate souffle coupled with vanilla bean ice cream.

Sparsely but cleanly decorated in creamy tans and rich browns, Pasta Pomodoro is Santana Row’s best Italian-style restaurant. I’ll be back!