SQUIDFRY 06.27.19: Travel Time

TRAVEL TIME… Is it just Squid or is road trip season in full swing again? It seems that, pulling out the driveway in the old jalopy, Squid can’t avoid running into visitors on wheels. It’s like there’s a swarm of out-of-town motorists who binge-watched Big Little Lies and are now idling their cars in Pacific Grove or Monterey trying to find the Bixby Bridge for a selfie.

But who could blame ordinary visitors for getting confused? Even the journalists at The New York Times can’t seem to figure out California geography. The Grey Lady puts out a daily newsletter devoted to news from the Golden State. On June 24, the edition opened with a request: “Tell Us About Your Best California Road Trip.” Squid would rather not. But Squid is willing to divulge the following morsel of local knowledge. It has to do with a caption for the photo at the top of the newsletter, which reads, “Highway 1 runs for 659 miles, from north of Sacramento almost to San Diego.” Psst! Sacramento is nowhere near the highway. Your point of reference is totally off.

Come to think, however, maybe the Times is on to a good idea. Sending social media influencers and their throngs of followers to Sacramento on a wild goose chase for coastal views could be quite entertaining.

POT BUSED… Squid has never figured out how to balance funds in a way that would allow Squid to see a round of the U.S. Open and keep food in the bowl of Squid’s bulldog, Roscoe P. Coltrane. Squid did, however, ooze around the edges of Pebble Beach during the big golf tournament and saw something surprising: a long and shiny black shuttle van emblazoned with the Urbn Leaf logo.

Urbn Leaf is a handsome new cannabis dispensary in Seaside, with an existing shop in San Diego. The company brought the bus up to Monterey County for the golf tournament and plans to do so for other big events. It’s a way to shuttle customers to the dispensary and back – maybe a more innovative – not to mention catchy – approach to mitigating tourist traffic than what the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau is angling for with “sustainable moments,” the bureau’s plan to encourage tourists to rely more on public transportation.

But Urbn Leaf goes further. As Squid understands it, the driver’s compartment of this canna-bus is sealed off from the passenger area. If local ordinances allow, it could mean hazy customers stepping off the bus in search of pizza.

It’s one of those rare win-wins: Urbn Leaf gets some business, Seaside gets some tax revenue, restaurants get some seats filled and the rest of us get some recreational users off the road. Locals drive slow enough as it is.