Last modification: 01/19/08 19:26

Montebello Ridge

Photo credit: Masumi

If you could live anywhere, where would it be? If you haven't figured it out yet, I'd prefer a lush remote Pacific island. One with high-tech jobs, a good bookstore, good schools, and a Home Depot. The irony is that no island can live up to all these criteria, even if one could afford such a thing. Hawaii has the highest cost of living of any state, and you're very lucky if you can even purchase island property outside the U.S.

If the above picture looks like Kauai, it's not. It was taken outside our kitchen window one morning after a heavy rain shower in the Cupertino mountains. That's right, Cupertino, as in Silicon Valley, gridlock, smog, and flat. Most people never take the time to fully explore the hills around the South Bay, but that's where the beauty is. From Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz, La Honda to Bonny Doon, the Santa Cruz mountain range is an oasis that can make you think, for a little while, that you took a wrong turn somewhere on the way to Lake Tahoe. Or Napa.

Although it's still possible to live the way Ken Kesey did, if you get too far away from the Valley floor you have to battle rain, fog, and windy mountain roads. There's no municipal water or pizza delivery, and you never know when a generator might come in handy - but that's the price you pay for fresh air and views that go on for miles. The orchards may have been replaced by office parks in Santa Clara, but up here life remains unchanged. Except for the wireless broadband and DirecTV, of course.

Montebello Ridge is part of Mount Black, the "mountain" in Mountain View. Located in unincorporated Cupertino, the area and its surrounding open space preserves are part of Santa Clara county. Wine tasters, hikers and mountain bikers are invited to enjoy the local Pichetti and Ridge wineries on their way to the summit (2600').

For more on this area and others like it, catch Bay Area Backroads, Sat & Sun nights on KRON-TV. Speaking of television:

List Of DTV Television Stations Currently Receivable Over The Air From Mt Black : (12/26/09)

KTSF 27 (San Bruno Mtn, Asian, 500kW) like several other stations broadcasting near San Francisco, lies in a partial mountain shadow and may be too weak to be received in digital. Currently in the process of being upgraded to 858kW, your best bet for now is to watch it as a Local Channel via DirecTV (current channel lineup incl. KBCW, KFTY, KGO, KCNS, KCSM, KDTV, KFSF, KICU, KNTV, KOFY, KPIX, KRCB, KRON, KTEH,  KTSF, KSTS, KTLN, KTVU & KQED.)

KFOG 104.5 FM (another Sutro Tower station in the shadow of Mt. Black) rebroadcasts its signal to San Jose via a 3.1 kW repeater on the Ridge as KFFG 97.7 FM, Los Altos.

Places to Visit

Ridge Vineyards
Picchetti Winery
City of Cupertino

Bay Area Backroads
SiliconValley.com
The Cupertino Courier
Bay Area Metro
San Jose Mercury News

Parks & Recreation

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space
Stevens Creek County Park
Stevens Creek Volunteer Fire Dep't

Local Resources

Black Mountain on Wikipedia
Blackberry Farm
The Cupertino Courier
The Cupertino News
Cupertino Patch e-newsletter
Computer Recycling
Free Compost
KMVT 15 Community Television
Stevens Creek Volunteer Fire Dept

Environmental Groups

Bay Area For A Clean Environment (BACE) (formerly 'No Toxic Air' - Councilman Barry Chang is on this one)
West Valley Citizens Air Watch
South Bay Quarry Library

EV Charger Finder (thanks Waidy for starting this list)

Forgotten Backroads (you're on your own here!)

El Cerrito Rd
Old Raffa Rd
Mikulaco Rd
Casa de Pinos
Kristen Drive
Montebello Terrace

Fun Stuff

Weather Radar  3-Day Forecast  7-Day Forecast  NOAA Los Altos
Weather Station Maps  PG&E Electrical System Outage Map
Bay Area Earthquake Reports  USGS ENS Notification Service
Bay Area Air Quality & Temperature Reports

What's a 'Cupertino'?
 

(with apologies to Prof. Foglio's Girl Genius)

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